Proudly owning your music is now the one protection in opposition to AI infested playlists

[ad_1] <img class="e_jg" decoding="async" loading="eager" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Physical Music Media" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="Physical Music Media" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Physical-Music-Media.jpg"/> Robert Triggs / Android Authority

I’m sufficiently old to recollect a time earlier than Spotify heralded the golden age of music discovery. Even the early beta catalog gave me entry to much more music than I may ever hope to suit on my iPod Nano, and, extra importantly, made discovering new artists and exploring new genres unbelievably simple. Many people most likely owe an enormous debt to streaming platforms for shaping our musical tastes and increasing our libraries.

Whereas the music streaming area has grown with each greater libraries and a wide range of new gamers, a lot of immediately’s prime streaming platforms are shortly morphing into the very antithesis of the formulation that made them such a game-changer. Unsurprisingly, it’s pushed by that the majority trendy of issues: AI slop.

I used to be not in the slightest degree shocked to learn this week’s report that YouTube Music is serving up AI-generated spam — to Premium subscribers no much less. For higher or worse (positively worse), AI-generated music is right here to remain, however the concern jogs my memory of Spotify’s “fake-artist” controversy, the place it was claimed the corporate commissions music to stuff into their curated playlists, primarily supplanting actual musicians with cheaper, inventory music.

Are you listening to AI-generated music in your streaming platforms? 18 votes

Sure

44%

No

33%

I do not know if there's any.

22%

The cynical rationale is simple: platforms pay considerably fewer royalties — or none in any respect — for commissioned works. If even a fraction of a playlist consists of low cost filler, platforms can save important sums and increase earnings for each hour listened. AI-generated filler is a fair higher potential income stream, because the fee value is low and AI’s regression to the imply makes it very interesting for hidden filler that blends in.

Nonetheless, potential playlist stuffing is only a minor concern within the trendy music panorama; producers are pumping out AI-generated tunes for a fast buck, and a few artificial artists are even rating on the Billboard charts. A minimum of some platforms, resembling Deezer, now tag AI-generated tracks, and Spotify has applied new insurance policies to guard artists in opposition to impersonation. Nonetheless, we’re more and more uncovered to music that isn’t produced by actual individuals, and this pattern is prone to worsen.

No matter what you consider the standard of AI-generated music, I consider we will most likely agree that being really useful this nonsense defeats certainly one of streaming’s main perks: actual music discovery. You'll be able to’t go and see an AI musician dwell; they most likely don’t have a lot in the best way of a again catalog value exploring, and let’s not overlook the round stupidity of algorithmic suggestions primarily based on listening habits that embrace AI-generated tracks. You listened to this AI musician? Right here’s one other one similar to it. It’s a freeway to hell.

You don’t must be a severe music fan to fret about what all this implies for actual artwork, although it's all the extra regarding if in case you have a real curiosity in reveling within the skills of your contemporaries. If any of this bothers you, it could be time to significantly take into account reverting to the previous methods of supporting actual artists extra instantly, by proudly owning your personal music assortment and taking a extra handbook strategy to discovering new materials.

It’s by no means been simpler to cease renting and begin proudly owning

<img class="e_jg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="YouTube Music player screen on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-1000w-562h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-1920w-1080h.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-675w-379h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="YouTube Music player screen on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-Music-player-screen-on-the-Xiaomi-15-Ultra-scaled.jpg"/> Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

Not like the quagmire of movie and TV, it’s nonetheless very viable to personal your personal music library, free from DRM and restrictions. CDs and vinyl stay fairly common, making it simple to acquire a bodily copy of each traditional and trendy works. Moreover, the artist receives a considerably greater fee than the pittance per stream, and the music high quality is far greater than the compressed media stuffed by means of the pipes of many streaming platforms.

However even for those who don’t need a stack of CDs and vinyl taking on area in your front room (or attic in my case), digital copies are very inexpensive. I’ve purchased a lot of new releases from smaller artists on Bandcamp, which normally value lower than the $15 or so I used to spend on a bodily launch again in my youth. Qobuz has you coated with a considerable library of Hello-Res tracks, if that’s your factor, and these companies, together with others, can be found in most areas world wide.

Ah, however I hear you say, I don’t have room for tons of or hundreds of CDs on my cellphone, and I don’t have the time or persistence to prepare and compress all of them to suit both. Effectively, there’s all the time some effort concerned in configuring any library, however there are many instruments on the market that may flip this chore right into a pleasure.

Whereas streaming dominates, it is by no means been simpler to buy, curate, and play your personal music library anyplace.

MusicBrainz’s Picard, Mp3tag, MusicBee, and others may also help arrange even an unlimited music library with complete metadata from on-line sources. Some software program instruments will even assist you routinely rip and label new music straight from a CD, such because the enduring Precise Audio Copy. There are quite a few instruments accessible to compress a library to MP3, OGG, or AAC codecs.

Relating to playback, the 2 main self-hosted media servers, Plex and Jellyfin, work nice with music libraries, playlists, and metadata group. Additionally they assist cellphone apps (I exploit Finamp, however others swear by Plexamp) with streaming and transcoding to carry your music on the go, similar to Spotify and YouTube Music, however with out the advertisements and AI. Alternatively, you might go for Navidrome and Subsonic are comparable choices however particularly tailor-made to music playback.

When you’re planning to host your music assortment on a NAS, there are a number of nice choices to serve up your tunes at residence and on the go, and it’s not an excessive amount of effort to get them up and working. All of this makes possession simpler than ever, however that doesn’t imply streaming is out of date.

Streaming nonetheless has a spot, after all

<img class="e_jg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Finamp Sony Xperia 1 IV music" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="Finamp Sony Xperia 1 IV music" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Finamp-Sony-Xperia-1-IV-music.jpg"/> Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Sarcastically, for an age dominated by music streaming platforms, it has by no means been simpler to buy, curate, and play your personal music assortment on any gadget, whether or not at residence or on the go. The one factor actually protecting us tied to streaming is their comfort and low and even free pricing tiers.

I’ll admit that YouTube Music nonetheless affords loads of discovery and different options that many music lovers gained’t need to hand over, and I’m definitely not advocating for dropping streaming solely. It nonetheless has loads going for it, particularly for informal listeners; nonetheless, one of the best companies prioritize the pursuits of each actual artists and listeners, reasonably than competing in opposition to them to pad out their backside strains.

I nonetheless stream, however proudly owning my assortment is an escape from advertisements and AI.

I nonetheless dip my toes within the Spotify waters after I’m on the hunt for brand new music, to seek out comparable artists, or test-drive a again catalog earlier than handing out my bank card data. Nonetheless, I now use it primarily to chase down new music reasonably than mindlessly take in its suggestions. After I need passive, curated playback, properly, that’s what my private assortment is for.

In fact, there are much less respectable methods to get round varied streaming annoyances. Not that I condone that route, however because the sensible Gabe Newell as soon as proclaimed, “piracy is sort of all the time a service drawback.” The enduring recognition of Revanced options means that those that gained’t need to pay for AI slop most likely gained’t, a technique or one other. However I feel it’s all the time a lot nicer to personal one thing.

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