Sweden’s music gatekeepers have drawn a hard line against AI infiltration, barring a breakout folk-pop track that’s racked up millions of streams from the country’s official charts after revelations that it’s partly generated by artificial intelligence, spotlighting the industry’s scramble to preserve human creativity amid tech’s encroachment.
The song, “I Know, You’re Not Mine” (or “Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min” in Swedish), credited to an artist named Jacub, exploded on Spotify with over 5 million global streams in weeks, including 200,000 in Sweden alone, topping the platform’s local Top 50 and marking it as the biggest Swedish hit of 2026 so far. It’s an acoustic guitar-driven folk-pop ballad weaving a tale of lost love and heartbreak, part of a six-track EP titled “Kärleken är Bränd” (Love is Burned), featuring lyrics like “Your steps in the night, I hear them go” and a haunting vocal delivery.
But Jacub doesn’t exist in the flesh, investigative journalist Emanuel Karlsten uncovered that the track stems from Stellar Music, a Denmark-based publisher and marketing firm, where two credited rights holders work in its AI department. The producers, dubbing themselves “Team Jacub,” describe the creation as a human-led process involving experienced songwriters and producers who poured in time, emotions, and resources, with AI serving as a “tool” or “assisting instrument” for the voice and select musical elements. Stellar insists it’s not “AI music slop” but an artistic project with a clear vision, emphasizing that the feelings and stories are drawn from real people.
That wasn’t enough for IFPI Sweden, the trade body compiling the official Sverigetopplistan chart, which deemed the song “mainly AI-generated” and thus ineligible under its rules. “Jacub’s track has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify’s own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules,” an IFPI spokesperson said. Ludvig Werner, IFPI Sweden’s CEO, added: “Our rule is that if it is a song that is mainly AI-generated, it does not have the right to be on the top list.” He noted the organization is humbled and may review rules, acknowledging the challenge in drawing and enforcing lines.
Team Jacub pushed back: “We are not an anonymous tech company that just ‘pressed a button.’ The team behind Jacub consists of experienced music creators, songwriters, and producers who have invested a lot of time, care, emotions, and financial resources.” On whether it’s AI-generated: “That depends on how you define the term. Jacub is an artistic project developed and carried by a team of human songwriters, producers, and creators. The feelings, stories, and experiences in the music are real, because they come from real people.” Karlsten described Stellar as pushing boundaries: “What emerges is a picture of a music publisher that wants to experiment with new music and new kinds of artists. Who likes to push the limits of the audience’s tolerance threshold for artificial music and artificial artists.”
This isn’t AI’s first chart flirtation; last year, the Velvet Sundown amassed over 4 million streams before being outed as AI, and Spotify has purged 75 million spam tracks amid AI-fueled fakes. Spotify doesn’t mandate AI labeling but backs voluntary disclosure standards via DDEX, though implementation is optional.
Sweden’s stance is stricter than some peers; Billboard allows AI tracks in specialty charts if they meet sales/stream criteria, while Bandcamp bans those “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI,” including voice clones. Meanwhile, Sweden’s music rights society STIM launched the “world’s first collective AI licence” last September, letting tech firms train on copyrighted works for royalties, as Lina Heyman put it, to “embrace disruption without undermining human creativity.” Composer Ed Newton-Rex urged labeling: “If Spotify told users when they were listening to AI music this wouldn’t have made it so high in the charts, taking streams and royalties away from human musicians.”
As AI music balloons into a multibillion-dollar sector, Sweden’s ban signals a pivotal clash, pitting innovation against authenticity, with platforms and regulators racing to define where machines end and artistry begins.
