Deezer battles AI music fraud as streaming scams reach 20K daily tracks

Music streaming service Deezer will begin flagging AI-generated songs on its platform as part of an escalating battle against streaming fraud. The Paris-based company reports that 18% of daily uploads—roughly 20,000 tracks—are now completely AI-generated, nearly doubling from 10% just three months earlier, with fraudsters using these songs to manipulate streams and collect royalties illegally.

The big picture: AI-generated music is becoming a vehicle for large-scale streaming fraud, with Deezer estimating that seven in 10 listens of AI songs come from bots rather than humans.

• Fraudsters “create tons of songs” and use automated systems to inflate play counts, earning substantial royalty payments through what CEO Alexis Lanternier calls “stream manipulation.”
• One U.S. criminal case last year involved a man who generated hundreds of thousands of AI songs and used bots to stream them billions of times, earning at least $10 million.

How it works: Deezer uses AI detection tools to identify patterns in artificially generated music, then displays warning labels to users.

• The platform analyzes songs using the same AI generators that create them, identifying “subtle but recognizable patterns” that change constantly.
• “We’re fighting AI with AI,” Lanternier explained, noting the detection system requires daily updates as AI music generators evolve.
• Songs flagged for stream manipulation will be cut off from royalty payments entirely.

Industry-wide implications: While AI-generated tracks represent only 0.5% of total streams on Deezer, the trend reflects broader tensions around AI’s role in creative industries.

• Major AI song generators Suno and Udio face multiple copyright infringement lawsuits from record companies, accused of training on copyrighted works from artists like Chuck Berry and Mariah Carey.
• Gema, a German royalty-collection group, is suing Suno for generating songs “confusingly similar” to originals, including tracks by Alphaville and Boney M.

What they’re saying: Deezer frames the initiative as protecting legitimate artists in an era of AI disruption.

• “It’s committed to safeguarding the rights of artists and songwriters at a time where copyright law is being put into question in favor of training AI models,” Lanternier said.
• He distinguishes between legitimate AI-assisted music creation with human artists involved versus fully automated content generation for fraudulent purposes.

Why this matters: The surge in AI-generated music fraud highlights the challenge streaming platforms face as generative AI tools become more accessible and sophisticated, potentially undermining the economics that support human musicians and songwriters.