This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss some small changes, an AI song, and internet soup.

JOSEPH: We’re making a couple of changes that might sound boring to someone who doesn’t read or listen to our work, but I’m actually legit excited about them, and I think they will be better for all of you too. I’ll talk about one now and maybe the other next week.

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss just doing it, machines that eat the internet, and an eavesdropping watch.

EMANUEL: It is a foundational, defining feature of 404 Media, but I sometimes forget that when I’m having trouble with a story, I need to just do it. 

This is most of all true when it comes to reporting. I spent a couple of weeks looking into AI generated music on Spotify appearing under the names of real artists. It’s an issue I and many other publications have reported on in the past, but whenever I look into it I am shocked by how prevalent the issue is. If you talk to any musician or spend some time clicking around music platforms yourself, you’re going to quickly find hundreds of examples of this abuse of the digital music distribution system.