UK music regulation faces criticism as artificial intelligence and automated accounts increasingly shape streaming numbers, ticket sales and social media buzz.
Research highlights gaps in oversight
Dr Katherine Pittalis of Queen’s University Belfast examined how fast‑changing tools affect streaming platforms, concert‑ticket retailers and music‑related content on social networks. Her work, now being turned into a book, aims to alert policymakers.
The study points to “metric bots” that inflate likes and follows, and to “artificial musicians” that blend deep‑fake visuals with scripted accounts to create AI influencers. These practices boost algorithmic visibility for certain artists.
One striking example involved dynamic pricing on a major ticketing site for Oasis’s UK and Ireland tour last year. Prices shifted as demand rose, a practice allowed under current law but requiring clear disclosure, a point the UK Competition and Markets Authority highlighted after its investigation.
Scams on secondary‑market platforms also feature prominently. Consumers have reported paying large sums for tickets that never materialized, a problem amplified by unregulated buy‑and‑sell groups on sites like Facebook.
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Even community‑notes sections meant to curb misinformation are sometimes moderated by automated accounts, undermining their purpose.
Industry response and policy lag
According to the report, the UK’s regulatory framework trails that of the EU and the United States regarding transparency around malicious use of AI tools. While the EU has begun to draft specific rules for AI‑generated content, Britain has yet to adopt comparable measures.
Spotify announced that from mid‑September it will display “AI Persona” badges on artist profiles generated by artificial intelligence, a step toward the transparency many musicians have requested.
“It’s quite a depressing picture,” Dr Pittalis said. “Social‑media platforms are incredibly secretive about the use of automated accounts.” She added that a study she consulted found X (formerly Twitter) has more of these accounts now than when Elon Musk took over and promised to curb them.
From my research, the automated accounts I discovered look more authentic in how they behave and interact with organic users. Even with protocols and safety measures in place, they continue to thrive in these online environments and distort organic users’ perception of what is real and what is misleading content that has the potential to cause harm.
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In comparison with earlier waves of digital disruption, this wave feels more covert. Past concerns centered on simple spam; today the technology can mimic real artists and even fabricate explicit imagery, as seen with deep‑fake images of a pop star in 2024. The pattern mirrors earlier attempts to manipulate charts, but the scale and realism have grown.
AI‑generated songs are also entering the market. Some creators release entire tracks produced by algorithms, prompting calls for a transparency label. The UK government is still drafting policy on that front.
The research identified that informal groups on social platforms remain “highly unregulated,” sometimes even overseen by automated scripts that enforce rules without human oversight.
Regulators will need to consider how to enforce existing consumer‑protection laws on dynamic pricing and ticket resale, while also addressing the novel challenges posed by AI‑driven content creation.