Streaming Fraud Threatens More Than Fraudsters. We Must Find Meaningful Solutions (Guest Column)
Categoria: Musica
“Fraudsters will take a bigger and bigger slice if we don’t put a stop to it,” writes NMPA president and CEO David Israelite.
Por Billboard | 21/10/2026
As we approach the trial in the Copyright Royalty Board to determine songwriter streaming rates for 2028-2032, you can count on giant streaming services like Spotify, Amazon and Google to continue to try to find ways to pay songwriters less. But in addition to determining the rates and terms for how much tech giants must pay the songwriters who make their businesses possible, the court will also have to consider what must be done to counter a darker side of how some are using digital music services: streaming fraud. Related AI Music Streaming Fraudster Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Prison for $8M Royalties Scam Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania Weezer to Receive Legend of Live Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit The scale of streaming fraud is enormous and exacerbated by artificial intelligence (AI). One reason it’s a problem is simple math: Streaming services pay for musical works based on a percentage of revenue. From that pool, royalties are distributed proportionally based on plays. This means payments made for fraudulent streams directly reduce the amount going to human composers and songwriters. The pie doesn’t grow, and fraudsters will take a bigger and bigger slice if we don’t put a stop to it. In March of this year, the Department of Justice announced the guilty plea of a man named Michael Smith who created hundreds of thousands of songs with AI that were streamed billions of times. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton stated, “Although the songs and listeners were fake, the millions of dollars Smith stole was real. Millions of dollars in royalties that Smith diverted from real, deserving artists and rights holders.” Weeks ago, Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In 2025, Apple Music found 2 billion fraudulent streams on its platform. This year, Deezer reported that 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks were being uploaded to its platform every day and that up to 85% of the streams of those tracks are artificial. When Deezer identifies fraud, it excludes those streams from royalty payments. This is a great first step, and one that should be followed industry-wide. Related Deezer Says Daily Delivery of Fully AI Music Reaches More Than 50% for the First Time A lesser publicized threat is that of using fake streams to launder money — a tactic which has been used by criminal gangs for years — and even finance terrorism. Streaming fraud is a national security issue that has been supercharged by AI. According to a Guardian story published in September 2023 that cited a report in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet , “Criminal gangs behind a rise in bombings and shootings in Sweden are using fake Spotify streams to launder money.” “Criminal networks have for several years been using money from drug deals, robberies, fraud and contract killings to pay for false Spotify streams of songs published by artists with ties to the gangs