Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud
The music streaming services Deezer's logo is pictured at the company headquarters, in Paris, France, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
LONDON — Music streaming service Deezer said Friday that it will start flagging albums with AI-generated songs, part of its fight against streaming fraudsters.
Deezer, based in Paris, is grappling with a surge in music on its platform created using artificial intelligence tools it says are being wielded to earn royalties fraudulently.
The app will display an on-screen label warning about 'AI-generated content' and notify listeners that some tracks on an album were created with song generators.
Deezer is a small player in music streaming, which is dominated by Spotify, Amazon and Apple, but the company said AI-generated music is an 'industry-wide issue.' 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,' CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release.
Deezer's move underscores the disruption caused by generative AI systems, which are trained on the contents of the internet including text, images and audio available online. AI companies are facing a slew of lawsuits challenging their practice of scraping the web for such training data without paying for it.
According to an AI song detection tool that Deezer rolled out this year, 18% of songs uploaded to its platform each day, or about 20,000 tracks, are now completely AI generated. Just three months earlier, that number was 10%, Lanternier said in a recent interview.
AI has many benefits but it also 'creates a lot of questions' for the music industry, Lanternier told The Associated Press. Using AI to make music is fine as long as there's an artist behind it but the problem arises when anyone, or even a bot, can use it to make music, he said.
Music fraudsters 'create tons of songs. They upload, they try to get on playlists or recommendations, and as a result they gather royalties,' he said.
Musicians can't upload music directly to Deezer or rival platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Music labels or digital distribution platforms can do it for artists they have contracts with, while anyone else can use a 'self service' distribution company.
Fully AI-generated music still accounts for only about 0.5% of total streams on Deezer. But the company said it's 'evident' that fraud is 'the primary purpose' for these songs because it suspects that as many as seven in 10 listens of an AI song are done by streaming 'farms' or bots, instead of humans.
Any AI songs used for 'stream manipulation' will be cut off from royalty payments, Deezer said.
AI has been a hot topic in the music industry, with debates swirling around its creative possibilities as well as concerns about its legality.
Two of the most popular AI song generators, Suno and Udio, are being sued by record companies for copyright infringement, and face allegations they exploited recorded works of artists from Chuck Berry to Mariah Carey.
Gema, a German royalty-collection group, is suing Suno in a similar case filed in Munich, accusing the service of generating songs that are 'confusingly similar' to original versions by artists it represents, including 'Forever Young' by Alphaville, 'Daddy Cool' by Boney M and Lou Bega's 'Mambo No. 5.'
Major record labels are reportedly negotiating with Suno and Udio for compensation, according to news reports earlier this month.
To detect songs for tagging, Lanternier says Deezer uses the same generators used to create songs to analyze their output.
'We identify patterns because the song creates such a complex signal. There is lots of information in the song,' Lanternier said.
The AI music generators seem to be unable to produce songs without subtle but recognizable patterns, which change constantly.
'So you have to update your tool every day,' Lanternier said. 'So we keep generating songs to learn, to teach our algorithm. So we're fighting AI with AI.'
Fraudsters can earn big money through streaming. Lanternier pointed to a criminal case last year in the U.S., which authorities said was the first ever involving artificially inflated music streaming. Prosecutors charged a man with wire fraud conspiracy, accusing him of generating hundreds of thousands of AI songs and using bots to automatically stream them billions of times, earning at least US$10 million.
Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
10 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
France made smoking sexy. Now it's banning the habit in public spaces
The country that made smoking look glamorous, sexy and cool is now going further than most in trying to stamp out the habit. As of July 1, France will ban smoking in nearly all public spaces, including parks, beaches, public gardens and bus stops. Violations carry a fine of as much as €135, or $212, and just about the only exceptions are France's iconic café terraces and electronic cigarettes. It's all part of a move by the country's Health Ministry to address second-hand smoke anywhere near children. 'Tobacco is poison: it kills, it costs money, it pollutes. And above all, it targets our young people,' Health Minister Catherine Vautrin said in a statement last month as she announced the new restrictions. She added: 'Our goal is clear: a generation without tobacco. And we have the means to achieve it.' Polls show the ban has widespread support, and the number of people who smoke in France has fallen to historic lows – less than 25 per cent of adults light up. Blowing smoke: Big Tobacco is getting a whole new generation hooked on nicotine But for some it's still hard to imagine France going smokeless after decades of romanticizing cigarettes in film, fashion and culture. The image of smokey Parisian cafés filled with stylish people chatting over cigarettes has been ingrained in our consciousness. And who can forget Brigitte Bardot or Catherine Deneuve lounging seductively in countless films, a cigarette dangling from their lips? Or fashion icon Coco Chanel, who reportedly smoked 50 cigarettes a day? 'The ban won't work,' said Giovanni Vannomi as he took a drag on a cigarette last week during a break from his job as a tour guide at the Louvre. 'If they try to enforce it, they are going to start another revolution here.' Over in the Tuileries Garden, Laila Alem sat on a patch of grass with three friends, each of them enjoying the warm spring evening and a newly lit cigarette. She too was dead set against the restriction. 'I understand if it's for the children and near schools. But here, there is a big space. I don't understand why the ban is everywhere, like all the parks and not only near the children's area,' Ms. Alem said, thrusting her cigarette forward to make a point. Sitting across from her, James Balde waved off her concerns and said the ban made sense and might even force him to stop smoking. 'It's a good idea,' he said. 'On July 1, I will quit smoking.' But he was not convinced that many French smokers will comply. 'If you come back on July 2 or July 10, or even next year, people will be smoking here. If you don't have a policeman or security, they won't stop.' Next to him, Catherine Guyot had a more cynical assessment of the motivation behind the ban. 'The government just needs money, that's why,' she said, referring to the fines. She also doubted that any of them would stop smoking. 'We all smoke a lot,' she said. Across from the garden, Anthony Fontaine was far more upbeat about the measure. 'I don't think it's a bad idea,' he said as he enjoyed a cigarette while sitting on a bench outside the Louvre. 'It's going to be complicated to make it effective, especially for the French. But other than that, it's pretty positive, just to keep parks clean from those who don't really dispose of their cigarettes where they should.' France isn't the only European country taking a tougher line on smoking. Spain is close to adopting regulations to ban both smoking and vaping from school playgrounds, university campuses, bus shelters, outdoor entertainment venues and terraces. The Italian city of Milan has extended its already strict outdoor ban to include streets and crowded public areas. And the British Parliament is expected to approve legislation soon that the government says will create the first smoke-free generation by making it illegal for anyone 15 or younger to ever buy cigarettes. Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry has pushed back. Cigarette makers argue sweeping prohibitions are ineffective and say it's not clear that smoking in parks or on beaches poses a major health risk to non-smokers. Smokers visiting France this summer won't be immune from the ban or the fine, and many may find the restrictions something of a shock. Margarita Pidrasa, who was visiting Paris from Santiago, last week, was incredulous when told that she and her husband, Alberto Labbe, would soon be unable to smoke in the square outside the Louvre. 'Where are the signs that say this?' she asked as she looked around the giant space. They both agreed with the government's desire to protect children, but felt tourists should be better informed about the penalty. Even if there were a 'No Smoking' sign around, Mr. Labbe said, he probably would still fire up an illicit smoke in the park or on the beach. 'No, I will keep smoking,' he said with a smile as he finished off a cigarette while standing under a shady tree. Then he dropped the butt in the dirt, ground it with his foot and headed off with his wife to rejoin their tour group.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Telegram founder Pavel Durov says all his 100+ children will receive share of his estate
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said he didn't want his children to fight over his estate. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource) Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of instant messaging app Telegram, plans to leave his fortune to the more than 100 children he has fathered. The Russian-born tech tycoon has revealed that his estate will be split between his six children from relationships and the scores of others whom he fathered through sperm donation. In a wide-ranging interview published Thursday in French political magazine Le Point, 40-year-old Durov revealed that he does not differentiate between his legal children with three different women and those conceived with the sperm he donated. 'They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don't want them to tear each other apart after my death,' he said, after revealing that he recently wrote his will. Durov revealed the number of children he has fathered on his social media last year. He said a doctor told him that it was his 'civic duty' to donate his 'high quality donor material,' which he did over the course of 15 years. According to Bloomberg, Durov is worth an estimated US$13.9 billion, but he dismissed such estimates as 'theoretical,' telling Le Point: 'Since I'm not selling Telegram, it doesn't matter. I don't have this money in a bank account. My liquid assets are much lower – and they don't come from Telegram: they come from my investment in bitcoin in 2013.' Regardless, his children will have a long wait for their inheritance. He said: 'I decided that my children would not have access to my fortune until a period of 30 years has elapsed, starting from today. I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account. I want to specify that I make no difference between my children: there are those who were conceived naturally and those who come from my sperm donations.' When asked why he has written his will now, Durov, who lives in Dubai, said: 'My work involves risks – defending freedoms earns you many enemies, including within powerful states. I want to protect my children, but also the company I created, Telegram. I want Telegram to forever remain faithful to the values I defend.' Telegram, which has more than a billion monthly users, is known for its high-level encryption and limited oversight on what its users post. Last year, Durov was arrested in Paris on charges relating to a host of crimes, including allegations that his platform was complicit in aiding money launderers, drug traffickers and people spreading child pornography. Durov, who is Telegram's sole shareholder, has denied the charges, which he described as 'absurd.' 'Just because criminals use our messaging service among many others doesn't make those who run it criminals,' he told the French magazine. Lianne Kolirin, CNN
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud
The music streaming services Deezer's logo is pictured at the company headquarters, in Paris, France, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) LONDON — Music streaming service Deezer said Friday that it will start flagging albums with AI-generated songs, part of its fight against streaming fraudsters. Deezer, based in Paris, is grappling with a surge in music on its platform created using artificial intelligence tools it says are being wielded to earn royalties fraudulently. The app will display an on-screen label warning about 'AI-generated content' and notify listeners that some tracks on an album were created with song generators. Deezer is a small player in music streaming, which is dominated by Spotify, Amazon and Apple, but the company said AI-generated music is an 'industry-wide issue.' 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,' CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release. Deezer's move underscores the disruption caused by generative AI systems, which are trained on the contents of the internet including text, images and audio available online. AI companies are facing a slew of lawsuits challenging their practice of scraping the web for such training data without paying for it. According to an AI song detection tool that Deezer rolled out this year, 18% of songs uploaded to its platform each day, or about 20,000 tracks, are now completely AI generated. Just three months earlier, that number was 10%, Lanternier said in a recent interview. AI has many benefits but it also 'creates a lot of questions' for the music industry, Lanternier told The Associated Press. Using AI to make music is fine as long as there's an artist behind it but the problem arises when anyone, or even a bot, can use it to make music, he said. Music fraudsters 'create tons of songs. They upload, they try to get on playlists or recommendations, and as a result they gather royalties,' he said. Musicians can't upload music directly to Deezer or rival platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Music labels or digital distribution platforms can do it for artists they have contracts with, while anyone else can use a 'self service' distribution company. Fully AI-generated music still accounts for only about 0.5% of total streams on Deezer. But the company said it's 'evident' that fraud is 'the primary purpose' for these songs because it suspects that as many as seven in 10 listens of an AI song are done by streaming 'farms' or bots, instead of humans. Any AI songs used for 'stream manipulation' will be cut off from royalty payments, Deezer said. AI has been a hot topic in the music industry, with debates swirling around its creative possibilities as well as concerns about its legality. Two of the most popular AI song generators, Suno and Udio, are being sued by record companies for copyright infringement, and face allegations they exploited recorded works of artists from Chuck Berry to Mariah Carey. Gema, a German royalty-collection group, is suing Suno in a similar case filed in Munich, accusing the service of generating songs that are 'confusingly similar' to original versions by artists it represents, including 'Forever Young' by Alphaville, 'Daddy Cool' by Boney M and Lou Bega's 'Mambo No. 5.' Major record labels are reportedly negotiating with Suno and Udio for compensation, according to news reports earlier this month. To detect songs for tagging, Lanternier says Deezer uses the same generators used to create songs to analyze their output. 'We identify patterns because the song creates such a complex signal. There is lots of information in the song,' Lanternier said. The AI music generators seem to be unable to produce songs without subtle but recognizable patterns, which change constantly. 'So you have to update your tool every day,' Lanternier said. 'So we keep generating songs to learn, to teach our algorithm. So we're fighting AI with AI.' Fraudsters can earn big money through streaming. Lanternier pointed to a criminal case last year in the U.S., which authorities said was the first ever involving artificially inflated music streaming. Prosecutors charged a man with wire fraud conspiracy, accusing him of generating hundreds of thousands of AI songs and using bots to automatically stream them billions of times, earning at least US$10 million. Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press
