Online Reporter
Producer-turned-vocalist and rapper Credo V Daniels’ album, “Still Where We Were”, is making waves, captivating audiences. The 10-track album features fan favourites such as “Njalo njalo”, “Ngafa” and “Sedilaka”.
Real name, Credo Danel Mandlhazi, has been in the music industry for 18 years, working behind the scenes. He has worked with Kabelo Mabalane of TKZee and Infadizle of Skwatta Kamp.
People have been sharing their favourite songs from the album on social media platforms. In sharing their views, audiences have praised Credo V Daniels body of work, but they have also questioned its being artificially generated.
Artificially generated music is gaining traction, with it topping charts and AI artists gaining popularity. Aventhis, The Velvet Sundown, and The Devil Inside.
Top AI artists gaining traction on Spotify as of late 2025 and early 2026 include Aventhis, The Velvet Sundown, and The Devil Inside. Former podcaster Rea Gopane has a rising music career thanks to his AI-generated music.
Credo V Daniels has been open about his stance on AI, clarifying in interviews that he uses it as a tool and uses it to enhance his music.
“I think it’s a tool. If you can use it, use it. But not fully like just prompt and then let it go. Create first. As I use it, I only use it for backing vocals, the choirs,” he said on Kaya 959’s The Best T in the City with T Bose.
“When I needed a choir because people didn’t show up. I asked to come over, ‘let’s do this thing’. They didn’t show.”
Last week, Spotify unveiled a new verification system to help listeners distinguish human musicians from AI-generated tracks, as artificial intelligence floods streaming platforms with more synthetic tracks.
The Swedish streaming giant said its “Verified by Spotify” badge, marked by a green checkmark, will begin appearing on artist profiles and in search results in the coming weeks, signalling that a profile has been reviewed and meets the platform’s standards for authenticity.
Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated music or AI-created personas will not be eligible for the badge, the company said in a blog post.
“In the AI era, it’s more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music you listen to,” Spotify said.
To earn verification, artists must demonstrate sustained listener engagement over time, comply with Spotify’s platform rules and show signs of a genuine presence both on and off the platform, such as concert dates, merchandise and linked social media accounts.
The company said more than 99 percent of artists that listeners actively search for will be verified at launch, representing hundreds of thousands of musicians – the majority of them independent – spanning genres and geographies.
The initiative arrives amid mounting concern across the music industry over AI-generated content overwhelming streaming catalogues.
Deezer, a competing platform, disclosed last week that synthetic tracks now make up 44 percent of all new music uploaded to its service each day.
Major labels have also pushed back. Sony Music recently said it had sought the takedown of more than 135,000 AI-produced songs that mimicked its signed artists on streaming services.
Beyond the badge, Spotify is adding a new information section to all artist pages, whether or not they hold verified status, that displays career highlights, release patterns, and live performance history. The company compared the feature to food nutritional labelling, giving listeners a way to quickly gauge an artist’s track record on the platform.
The announcement followed Spotify’s first-quarter 2026 earnings report, in which the company said its paying subscriber base had reached 293 million. –IOL
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