Spotify uploads 150,000 traks a day with as many as 45,000 AI-slop. Mexico uploads far fewer slop tracks day. Why the deference? Mexico’s Laws are strict on AI; The US law is a mess.
CROSS-BORDER AI MUSIC
Recently, my daughter and I got into a conversation online about the singers Freya Dakkar and Odin. Both sing Viking/Nordic war songs about strong women; both are accompanied by gorgeous, realistic videos. And both are AI- generated – there is no Freya, and there is no Odin. They are a project by the Netherlands-based North Wave, a decentralized, digital-first AI record label and microlabel.
While Northwave calls its singers “illustrative characters” and its work is labeled by Spotify as an AI Persona and is legitimate, they are the tip of the AI music iceberg. The United States is the world’s leading source of digital audio spam, or “slop”, generating an estimated 30,000 to 45,000 “AI slop” songs every single day. Fueled by the easy accessibility of platforms like Suno and Udio, automated U.S. content farms exploit nearly zero production costs to mass-upload thousands of tracks under thousands of fake artist names. Why? To cash in on the pooled royalties. A few downloads can generate micro royalties, which are taken from real artists. With 30,000 songs on Spotify, each slop generator can make up to millions a year – millions that won’t go to struggling artists posting real music.
One reason the US creates a big problem for streaming platforms is that there is no comprehensive US regulation of AI music and videos. Independent artists must rely on state-level “right of publicity” laws or union-backed agreements while federal legislation remains stalled in Congress.
Since I write about cross-border music, I decided to look at Mexico’s AI music situation. After all, Mexico is one of the top music streaming markets globally -Mexican Gen Z listeners consume an average of 18.4 hours of music weekly. But despite Mexico’s voracious appetite for music consumption, it does not have much of AI slop problem. Estimates for Mexican AI range from 6,000 to 10,000 songs a day- out of 150,000 uploads to Spotify- and many are legal and labeled.
What’s going on here? The technology is equally available in both countries. As in the US, some Mexican producers work exclusively with AI. So why the huge difference?
Mexicans are serious about their music. Mariachi has UNESCO Heritage status. The State of Jalisco has named it part of the state’s official heritage. Ministries of culture in the Mexican states and the federal government give millions of pesos in grants to artists, concerts, and music festivals every year. Along with this support comes serious protection. Mexico boasts some of the strictest, most proactive AI regulations in the world, specifically designed to shield musicians and performing artists from unauthorized digital replication or catalogue scraping. Mexican law explicitly establishes that a person’s voice and image are protected assets requiring prior written consent and separate remuneration for AI use. Furthermore, the Mexican Supreme Court has firmly ruled that copyright is an exclusive human right, meaning that music generated entirely by artificial intelligence cannot be legally protected and automatically falls into the public domain. Neither Fredya nor Odin can be copyrighted in Mexico -which means they have no protection and anyone can copy them.
. Mexico’s laws exclude AI exploitation from standard entertainment and production contracts unless compensation is part of the deal, while directly penalizing platforms that train AI models on human performances without permission. And Mexican laws apply to any music played within its borders regardless of its origin. If a foreign track uses generative AI to clone a real human artist’s voice or alter their performance without consent, the original artist can trigger massive fines and penalties under Mexican law, forcing streaming networks and distributors to immediately take the content down.
Despite these heavy legal barriers, content farms still flood the digital ecosystem with automated music. Industry data estimates that between 1.5 million and 2.5 million tracks of “Mexican slop” were swept up in a recent streaming purge by Spotify, which took down 75 million tracks. While Mexican electronic pioneers like the duo Genis use AI transparently as a collaborative tool, anonymous ghost producers upload thousands of synthetic tracks daily. But the low number of Mexican spam uploads that actually make it and make money shows that it isn’t working; the vast majority are flagged as fraudulent and taken down, blocked, or choked out of actual royalty payouts.
Artists on both sides of the border are fighting back. In Mexico, powerhouse regional singer Adriel Favela’s official recordings are central to a massive $100 million copyright lawsuit launched against AI developer Suno for scraping distinct regional Mexican catalogs without consent to build Spanish-language AI music generators.
Billie Eilish has heavily advocated for federal U.S. legislation like the NO FAKES Act, which seeks to establish a federally protected “right of publicity” to block tech companies from stealing professional artists’ voices and diluting streaming pools. Sarah McLachlan, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, is actively lobbying the Canadian government to completely deny copyright exceptions for AI developers, demanding strict laws for mandatory labeling of AI music and forced transparency regarding datasets, similar to Mexico.
This all helps, but if the US wants to catch up to Mexico, it has to honor, respect, and support music and artists the way Mexico does. Once that happens, the laws and enforcement follow, and American musicians can breathe a little easier.
Patrick O’Heffernaan
Banner: Adriel Favela’s official recordings are central to a $100 million copyright lawsuit against AI developer Suno. Comparison illustration created by AI