A new site called SlopTracker is putting the spotlight on one of streaming’s most pressing questions: how much money is AI-generated music pulling away from human artists on Spotify?
Launched to track what it calls “AI streaming drain,” the platform identifies AI-generated artists on Spotify and estimates how their streams may be affecting the platform’s shared royalty pool. According to the site, it can detect fully AI-generated music with 99.9% accuracy, though tracks that have only been processed with AI are reportedly harder to flag.
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Its early findings are eye-opening. In just one hour, SlopTracker said it found 50 AI artists on Spotify, with those acts collectively earning an estimated US$2.7 million from their top songs so far. The site also projects that those artists could be generating close to US$312,000 in monthly income.
Among the names listed were Breaking Rust, Enlly, and Cain Walker, with Breaking Rust alone estimated to have made more than US$297,000 from its top 10 songs. SlopTracker also calculates how many premium subscriptions are effectively being “drained” each month to fund these payouts.
Because Spotify’s pro-rata model distributes royalties based on overall stream share, the concern is that a flood of AI uploads could reduce the slice available to human musicians. SlopTracker also pointed to another troubling pattern: AI acts seemingly borrowing from the names, sounds, or aesthetics of real artists to gain traction with casual listeners.
More than anything, SlopTracker has become a stark visual reminder that the AI music debate is no longer just about creativity. It is also about livelihoods.
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