The article also highlights the role of distributors in this issue, as they benefit from the royalties of these fake albums. It mentions a lawsuit by Universal Music Group against music distributor Believe, accusing it of knowingly distributing tracks from fraudulent clients. The article concludes by suggesting that the outcome of this lawsuit could potentially change how distributors filter the music people try to upload through their platforms.
Key takeaways:
- Spotify has been experiencing an issue where fake AI-generated albums are being uploaded to legitimate artists' pages, causing confusion and potential loss of revenue for the real artists.
- The fake albums are being uploaded through distributors who handle licensing, metadata, and royalty payments, and the process largely operates on an honor system, leading to potential for fraud.
- Spotify confirmed that a significant amount of the AI-generated content was delivered from one source, Ameritz Music, and ended their relationship with the licensor due to repeated violations of Spotify’s Metadata Style Guide.
- Experts estimate that $2 billion to $3 billion is stolen from artists through this kind of fraud every year, and the issue is not limited to Spotify but affects more than 100 streaming platforms.