For the first time, Apple Music addresses how it tackles streaming fraud.
The rising concern of streaming fraud
Streaming fraud is a deceptive practice that artificially inflates song streams to generate revenue, siphoning royalties away from genuine artists and their music. It has become an increasingly prominent issue, with a recent industry report estimating that streaming fraud diverts a staggering $2 billion annually from rightful creators.
In response, fraudulent streaming has been a key part of “artist-centric” initiatives and are central to “Streaming 2.0”. Spotify and Deezer are among the first to have introduced measures to combat this issue on their platforms.
Understanding streaming fraud: Motivations and methods
Speaking at Music Ally Connect’s conference in London, Apple’s global head of music partnerships and business programmes, Bryce McLaughlin, recognised two main motivations behind streaming fraud:
- Financial gain: Bad actors profit from royalties generated by fake streams.
- Perceived popularity: Artificially inflated numbers can rank higher chart positions, secure record deals, or larger venues on tour.
McLaughlin also recognised two primary ways that stream manipulation occurs:
- Programmatic means: Bots and devices generate millions of artificial streams, diverting royalties from genuine artists.
- Deception: This includes misleading metadata, artwork, or audio designed to trick algorithms and real listeners into playing the music.
Apple Music’s approach
Apple Music has taken a proactive stance, boasting that fraudulent streams account for less than 1% on the platform, and typically sit at about 0.3% of all manipulated streams globally. Despite a focus on tackling fraudulent streaming for years, Apple Music has never really spoken about it until now. Key initiatives include:
- Real-time monitoring: Regular updates to charts, sometimes as frequently as every three hours to help identify and quickly remove fraudulent streaming activity.
- Transparency: Apple Music collaborates with official chart companies and providers to ensure clear reporting and accountability, offering an all-rounded approach to tackling fraudulent streaming.
- Enforcing responsibility: Distributors now face financial penalties for failing to address manipulated content, prompting many who had not previously taken streaming fraud seriously to take action. This approach led to a 30% reduction within the first six months, with further reductions following another update.
Distributors at the heart: A collective responsibility
Distributors play a pivotal role in tackling streaming fraud. Manipulation starts from the point of distribution, as large distributors publish music from millions of the artists that they do not have a personal connection with. Therefore, distributors must:
- Verify artist legitimacy: Cross-check accounting details and that the content is authentic, from authentic artists.
- Monitor analytics: Identify irregular streaming patterns that may indicate fraud.
- Collaborate with platforms: Work closely with streaming services to uphold industry standards.
At RouteNote, we are committed to combating fraudulent streaming to ensure fair compensation for all artists. Our moderation process and collaboration with streaming partners reflect our dedication to tackle this bad practice in the industry.
