As covered by TechCrunch AI, Spotify's policy is less about the music and more about the marketing. By focusing on the 'artist's public identity' rather than the creative process, the company is drawing a line that may prove easier to enforce but is arguably philosophically shallow. The real test will be in the execution: its review process for 'photorealistic' profiles seems subjective and ripe for error, potentially penalizing legitimate artists who use AI for visual art.
Furthermore, the move could inadvertently create a two-tier system where AI-assisted human artists thrive while purely synthetic personas are ghettoized, raising questions about what 'authenticity' means in an age of increasingly synthetic media.