This musician was getting millions of streams. Then fake tracks appeared under his name

Sydney Morning Herald

5 days ago

'If this doesn't change, people are going to start training AI on your entire discography. Then they upload songs that actually sound like you. Fans go to your page, hear something that sort of sounds right — but it's shit.'
Paul Bender (at right) with his band Hiatus Kaiyote: (from left) Perrin Moss, Simon Mavin and Naomi Saalfield aka Nai Palm.
The problem, he says, is wilful inaction from distributors and streamers. Even basic password protection 'would solve 99 per cent of these cases overnight. Two-factor authentication would solve more. These tech companies are full of developers who could fix this in an afternoon.
So far 'it's just them passing the buck — 'it's the distributor's fault, no, it's the platform's fault'. It's a copout. It just proves how demoralising this system is for artists.'
Spotify, which commands more than 30 per cent of the global streaming market, acknowledged the fakes issue in 2023 when it removed tens of thousands of tracks uploaded by AI music startup Boomy. That followed pressure from Universal Music Group, its biggest licensor.
The Sweet Enoughs' boutique label, Wondercore Island, has had less success. 'It took Spotify six weeks to lift a finger,' says label head Si Jay Gould. 'They're calling it a 'mapping issue' — as if four artists just happened to release terrible AI music under our name.
'There's no incentive to protect us. We're being impersonated, we're losing income, our brand is being damaged, and the response is: 'We've done what we can.' It shows how little they value artists.'
Even now, though Spotify has uncoupled the four fakes from the Sweet Enoughs' profile, the tracks remain live under that name, ready to deceive fans looking for real music.
Spotify declined to comment for this story. When asked about authentication systems, an Australian spokesperson referred us to the company's extensive Spotify for Artists educational manuals.
The scale of hijacking 'can't be human', Gould says. 'The money's too marginal.' Like those old computer scams creaming fractions of cents from millions of bank accounts, 'it has to be automated. I assume they're targeting artists who do well in the algorithm — names the system likes.'
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Industry indicators confirm a growing problem. Deezer reported that 18 per cent of its daily uploads in early 2025 were fully AI-generated. Music generator Mubert claims over 100 million AI tracks were created on its platform in the first half of 2023.
The global Music Fights Fraud Alliance estimates 10 per cent of global streams are fraudulent, often driven by bots, fake profiles or click farms. Some distributors report fraud rates of up to 50 per cent, potentially diverting up to $US3 billion annually from artists.
Now musicians are fighting back. Michael League, best known as leader of American jazz collective Snarky Puppy, says he has collected 'several dozen testimonials from artists of various genres and levels of visibility recounting their experiences with AI-generated music being uploaded to their account without their consent'.
League has briefed the Recording Academy's New York chapter on the hijacking of his own solo artist profile. He says senior executive director Nick Cucci has indicated he will escalate the complaint within the Grammy organisation this week.
'I've been both shocked and horrified by the volume of messages I've received,' League says. 'It's like a silent epidemic in our industry.'
Behind the languid chill of The Sweet Enoughs, Paul Bender is fuming. 'It's not resolved, it's multiplying,' he says. 'I'm f---ing ropeable … You're building towards a new album, and suddenly this steaming pile of crap lands in the middle of your Spotify profile. It's vile and disrespectful.
'There are people in this industry who seem to actively loathe musicians. It's almost sadistic. Real human music and AI slop are the same to them. It's all just a commodity. It's all just content.'
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