Ross Johnston’s Post

Fraudulent activity in the music industry is at an all time high. 🚨It was found in a study that 7% of artist profiles on platforms like Spotify had indications of fraudulent activity. 🚨Up to 3%-4% of global streaming traffic is estimated to be fraudulent. These streams are artificially increased through click farms, bots and other methods. 🚨An estimated $300 million to $1 billion in annual losses is attributed to streaming fraud, which takes revenue away from legitimate artists around the world. It is vital that distributors around the world implement new KYC compliance measures to avoid these bad players from negatively effecting the music industry. This will have massive negative effects on artist’s ability to make music and live off of their music. #fraud #streaming #musicindustry #KYC #independentartist

Man Accused of $10M Streaming Fraud with AI-Generated Songs A man has been accused of running a $10 million fraud scheme by using AI to create songs and falsely collecting royalties. By leveraging streaming platforms, the suspect generated millions in illegitimate revenue from music that was entirely AI-produced. This case highlights the growing issue of fraud in the music industry, as technology continues to evolve and raise new challenges for intellectual property and royalty collection. #AI #Fraud #MusicIndustry #Streaming https://lnkd.in/eXVk3rD3

📰 EU to Investigate TikTok Over Online Safety Concerns, Man Accused of Streaming Fraud Operation Fighting Criminal Charges, EU to Fine Apple $539M for Alleged Violations in Music Streaming and much more! 🎶 Check out major music industry news you may have missed this past week! #tiktok #streaming #apple #spotify #royalties #music #newsletter #explorationweekly #musicnews

💬  "Streaming fraud remains a major headache for the music industry. The practice threatens to suck money out of the streaming business that would have otherwise been paid to legitimate artists and rightsholders." As platforms like TikTok crack down on fraudulent activity, it’s clear the music industry needs more consolidation and precision in addressing the issue. The question isn’t whether streaming fraud exists—it's how we fight it. 🔍 Here’s how Beatdapp helps: Real-time fraud detection: We audit every single stream, identifying suspicious patterns and manipulated plays. Multi-platform monitoring: We provide a cross-platform verification of music streams, ensuring transparency across the board. Over a trillion streams analyzed: Our system processes billions of streams, using advanced machine learning to flag anomalies with over 99% accuracy. Restoring artist revenue: We help ensure that every stream generates the correct amount of royalties, preserving revenue for legitimate artists and stakeholders, while  preventing clawbacks and persecution for distributors and labels. With fraud detection rates above as 40% on some platforms, the need for accountability is critical. Beatdapp's technology is here to preserve the integrity of streaming data—and keep the music industry fair for everyone. #MusicIndustry #StreamingFraud #Beatdapp #FraudDetection #MusicTech #ArtistRights #DigitalMusic https://lnkd.in/gxu4iygc

This emphasizes the urgent need for implementing #IdentityVerification even within the #music sector. Fraudulent activities in the music industry are on the rise, as reported by Sky News, fraud groups are exploiting streaming services by uploading millions of songs while posing as legitimate artists, resulting in billions in stolen royalty payments. Shockingly, it is estimated that 10% of all streamed songs worldwide. https://lnkd.in/d557czQK #digitalidentity #biometrics #fraudprevention #idv

Listen as Pearl Technology's Dave Johnson discusses a new music streaming scam on The Greg and Dan Show. Here are some takeaways: One of my favorite all-time scams is from decades ago, back in the days of printed magazines. The scammers claimed to be able to predict the sex of unborn babies. They asked people to send a few strands of the mother’s hair and $5 to them, and they would predict the sex. The scammers flipped a coin. Heads was boy, tails was girl. The scammers were right 50% of the time. Of the 50% that were wrong, only a fraction of people asked for their money back because they were busy with a new baby. But this new scam may be my new favorite. North Carolina musician Michael Smith was indicted for collecting over $10 million in royalty payments from Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and YouTube Music using AI-generated songs streamed by thousands of bots in a massive streaming fraud scheme. Musicians can upload their own music to streaming platforms. On average, a steaming platform pays a ½ cent royalty to the musician every time their song is streamed. This doesn’t sound like much, until you factor in AI generated songs and use bots to stream the songs. If bots are doing the streaming, the songs don’t even have to be good. Smith acquired hundreds of thousands of songs generated through AI from a coconspirator and uploaded them to these platforms. He operated 52 cloud services accounts, each with 20 bot accounts, totaling 1,040 bots. He also estimated that each account could stream approximately 636 songs per day, resulting in around 661,440 total streams daily. With an average royalty rate of half a cent per stream, Smith calculated that the daily earnings would reach $3,307.20, monthly earnings of $99,216, and annual earnings exceeding $1.2 million. Overall, Smith claimed his songs generated over 4 billion streams and $12 million in royalties since 2019. Smith now faces charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. #Cybersecurity #GregandDanShow #PearlTechnology

#FakeMusicStreams #AI “Despite accounting for roughly half of all music streams, only 0.6% of the money allegedly defrauded in a high-profile US streaming fraud case came from Spotify, the streaming service says. “Spotify invests heavily in automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform,” a Spotify spokesperson told MBW in an email. “In this case, it appears that our preventative measures worked and limited the royalties [Michael] Smith was able to generate from Spotify to approximately $60,000 of the $10,000,000 noted in the indictment. As Spotify typically accounts for around 50% of streamshare, this shows how effective we are at limiting the impact of artificial streaming on our platform.” “As MBW reported last week, the US Department of Justice charged North Carolina resident Michael Smith with three felony counts in connection with a “scheme to create hundreds of thousands of songs with artificial intelligence and use automated programs called ‘bots’ to stream the AI-generated songs billions of times.” The US Attorney’s office alleged that Smith “fraudulently obtained more than $10 million in royalty payments through his scheme” between 2017 and 2024. Smith faces charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, each of which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.” Read the article for more: #Spotify #Streaming #Fakes #FakeMusic #YouTube #ArtificialIntelligence #IP #IntelectualProperty #GenerativeAi #GeAi #Copyright #Artists #DerechoDeAutor #DroitdAuteur #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz #Songs #MusicLicensing #Global #Royalties #MusicRoyalties #DigitalRights #AmazonMusic #AppleMusic, #YouTubeMusic #DOJ #USA #Fraud #Bots

Legitary has finally put a number on all those missing, incorrect, and fraudulent music streams. In its latest report, the streaming verification company reveals that up to 16% of streaming statements from DSPs are ‘suspicious,’ and the takeaways on streaming fraud are surprising. https://lnkd.in/dfe4H3vG #musicindustry #musicbusiness #musicnews #musicindustrynews #musicstreaming #AI #artificialintelligence

Recorded music industry body The IFPI, along with German body BVMI, have been coordinating legal action against a website called Pimpyourfollower•de, which the IFPI and BVMI calls an “illegal service from offering its users the ability to purchase artificial plays, views, likes and followers on various online media platforms including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.” Now the Düsseldorf Regional Court has issued a decision banning the illegal service from offering its users these services. The Pimpyourfollower•de URL now points to a different website entirely. Victoria Oakley, CEO of the IFPI said: “There is no place for streaming manipulation in the music industry. It’s a fraudulent practice and those who engage in it, or support it, should not be allowed to divert revenue away from creators or distort music fans’ experience of listening to and supporting artists.” Streaming fraud is a complex and huge issue: fraud detection platform Beatdapp told Music Ally that streaming fraud is often connected to money laundering or organised crime – and say that around 7-10% of all streams are fraudulent. Read The Full Story Here: https://lnkd.in/d65rMYrX #musically #musicnews #readmore

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