SubmitHub Announces Policy Blocking Pure AI Music Submissions

Summary

SubmitHub says it will block “pure” AI music submissions after changes by streaming platforms, especially Spotify, made promotion less likely to reach listeners. The company says Spotify’s new AI Persona label excludes those profiles from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default unless users follow them, although Spotify has not fully explained how the rule will be applied to tracks. SubmitHub says its detector identified about 11% of tracks uploaded in the last month as at least 85% likely to be AI-generated; these represented 9% of submissions and had a 16% average approval rate, compared with 31% for non-AI tracks. The company chose an 85% cutoff after testing other thresholds and cites a third-party accuracy figure of 99.4%, while acknowledging that mistakes remain possible. The rule applies to pure and hybrid or processed AI music, including tracks made with limited post-generation edits, but hybrid AI scoring below 85% will remain allowed as an indication of human involvement. Writing lyrics or composition alone will not exempt a track, and there will be no workaround-request process. Hot or Not and Meta Ads are excluded, though SubmitHub says Meta advertising remains ineffective against Spotify’s changes. Curator preferences will continue to be honored through filtering. SubmitHub expects to revise the policy, especially the cutoff, as platform rules and detection practices evolve, and says the decision may remove roughly 10% of its revenue because it wants to promote music it considers genuinely human-created.