Artist Imposters Sneaking In Fake Songs Onto Streaming Platforms

Most times songs leak on Spotify and Apple Music without the knowledge of the original Artiste, and this illegal uploads from unknown set of people can generate Substantial royalty payments, but who does this payments go to?

Last December, new music from Beyoncé and SZA appeared out of nowhere on Spotify and Apple Music. Released under the names “Queen Carter” and “Sister Solana” respectively, these full-length projects initially seemed like surprise drops with a twist. Soon fans realized that something wasn’t right: Many of the Beyoncé recordings came from old sessions, and the SZA songs sounded like unfinished demos, which the singer later confirmed. Neither Beyoncé nor SZA had anything to do with the releases, in fact. It wasn’t the first time a big artist’s music had been uploaded illegally to Spotify and Apple Music, and it wouldn’t be the last.

These suspicious and fraudulent uploads are nothing new in digital music, but the problem has infiltrated paid streaming services in unexpected and troubling ways. Cause artists face the possibility of impersonators uploading fake music to their official profiles, stolen music being uploaded under false monikers, and of course, simple human error resulting in botched uploads. Meanwhile, keen fans have figured out where they can find illegally uploaded and  mis-titled songs in user playlists.

In the most troubling of these scenarios, fake releases have actually crept up and topped the streaming charts. In March 2019, when a fake Rihanna album called Angel was uploaded to iTunes and Apple Music under the name “Fenty Fantasia,” it made it as far as No. 67 on the iTunes worldwide albums chart before being yanked off the platform.

Artists who use independent distribution companies such as DistroKid or TuneCore get paid royalties for their streams and typically cash out via services like PayPal. TuneCore states that their royalty calculations typically operate on a two-month delay, while DistroKid has a three-month delay on payments, meaning that royalties accrued from streams in January may not be available to cash out until March or April. Distribution companies generally stipulate that users must agree not to distribute copyrighted content that they do not own, and streaming services similarly specify that copyright-infringing content is not allowed. However, it’s easy for leakers to simply lie and upload infringing music, which may or may not be caught by the distributors’ fraud prevention methods. By abusing the limited oversight in the digital supply chain, it’s possible that leakers can make significant amounts of money off music they have zero rights to.

Ultimately, the problem at hand is greater than the risk of lost royalties. The prevalence of leaks on established streaming services has a significant impact on an artist’s sense of ownership over their work. The lines become blurred as to whether something actually “exists” in an artist’s canon if they never gave permission for it to be released. So while diehard fans might feel a thrill, circumventing the system and listening to unreleased songs by their favorite musicians, the leaks ultimately hurt those same artists. After the last of this June’s many leaks, Playboi Carti uploaded a brief explanation and lamentation on his Instagram Story: “Hacked :(,” it read. “I haven’t released anything… I hate leaks.” Beneath it, a GIF sticker: “Leave me alone.”