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Musicians Confront Surging AI Impersonation on Streaming Platforms

Weak distributor vetting lets fake tracks reach artists’ profiles.

Overview

  • Artists report AI-made songs appearing under their names on Spotify and Apple Music, including Emily Portman and The Sweet EnoughsPaul Bender.
  • Scammers exploit third‑party distributors with little identity verification to place tracks on official profiles.
  • Platforms cite scale and enforcement efforts: Spotify says it removed 75 million spam tracks, and Deezer estimates 50,000 AI songs are uploaded daily, over a third of its intake.
  • Bender’s petition has gathered about 24,000 signatures urging tighter security, as takedowns can take from 24 hours to eight weeks.
  • Industry responses diverge, with UMAW pushing a human‑only streaming royalty under the Living Wage for Musicians Act and iHeartRadio pledging not to air synthetic vocal impersonations.