Authorities in Brazil have arrested and charged an individual accused of uploading more than 400 fake tracks to Spotify.
The tracks generated more than 28 million plays and earned the unnamed suspect some $65,000, according to a statement from global recorded music trade group IFPI, which cooperated in the investigation, along with Brazilian recorded music trade group Pro Música and the country’s anti-piracy group Association for the Protection of Phonographic Intellectual Rights (APDIF).
The investigation and arrest was part of “Operation out of Tune” and was carried out by Cyber Gaeco, a cybercrime unit of the Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Goiás.
Authorities also uncovered evidence of further infringement, in particular 36 tracks allegedly stolen from local composers through promotional WhatsApp groups.
“These tracks, along with associated fake artist profiles, have been removed from the platform by request of the prosecutor’s office,” IFPI stated.
“While not presently included in the criminal charges, the use of artificial intelligence to generate music tracks was also identified during the investigation and may be brought into the case at a later stage.”
The use of generative AI to create large volumes of tracks in order to skim music streaming revenue has been a concern in the music industry for several years.
It’s part of the motivation behind some streaming services’ shift to new payout models that reduce or eliminate payouts for less-played tracks. As of last year, Spotify is enforcing a rule that requires a track to get at least 1,000 plays in 12 months to qualify for monetization. Deezer has begun shifting to an “artist-centric” payment model that rewards streams of tracks with relatively large play counts and those from artists with larger followings.
“Simply put, streaming manipulation of this nature is theft – stealing directly from artists and betraying fans.”
Victoria Oakley, IFPI
“Simply put, streaming manipulation of this nature is theft – stealing directly from artists and betraying fans,” IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley said.
“We commend the actions of the State of Goiás prosecutor’s cybercrime unit for their work in this case and will continue to work closely with local authorities in Brazil, but more broadly across the world, to ensure this illegal activity is stopped.”
Streaming manipulation “is one of the biggest concerns of the music sector,” said Paulo Rosa, President of Pro-Música Brasil, adding that his trade group “will continue to work closely with Brazilian authorities to tackle these fraudulent practices.”
In recent years, Brazil has proven itself to be an aggressive defender of music rights.
In 2020, authorities announced they had taken down 14 websites involved in streaming manipulation. The following year, authorities announced they had shut down 10 streaming manipulation services, while another 20 stopped offering the services. Additionally, dozens more such services had their listings removed from online marketplace Mercado Livre.
With the cooperation of trade groups like IFPI and Pro-Música, Brazilian authorities have been running “Operation 404,” an ongoing initiative to take down copyright-infringing music services. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, as of September 2024, seven Operation 404 initiatives had been carried out, the most recent focusing on stream-ripping sites and apps in Brazil and Paraguay.
In 2024 another initiative, Operation Redirect, took down eight illegal online music services that were being used to distribute malware to users.
A year earlier, authorities in Brazil took down FileWarez, which IFPI described as the most popular illicit file-sharing site in the country, which at its peak counted 118,000 registered users, of which 24,000 were active on a monthly basis.Music Business Worldwide
