Anyone Can Upload Music Under Your Name On Streaming Platforms

A growing number of respected artists, including Chaka Khan, Anderson .Paak, Willow Smith, Jill Scott, BADBADNOTGOOD, Jacob Collier, Rapsody, and Tank and The Bangas have signed an urgent open letter demanding accountability from digital music distributors and streaming platforms.

 

The letter, titled “Protect Musicians from Fraud,” published to Change.org, exposes a major flaw in the current streaming system. There is no authentication process for uploading music to platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and others. That means anyone can upload a song under any artist’s name, no verification required.

 

The open letter describes a landscape where fake songs, fake albums, and even AI-generated impersonations are now flooding streaming services. These fraudulent uploads are not just an annoyance; they represent a real and growing crisis for working artists. Each fake track steals plays, damages credibility, and confuses listeners about who the real creator is.

 

Right now, artists who discover fraudulent uploads have to handle the problem themselves by contacting digital service providers to have the fake songs taken down. The process can take weeks or even months, and the speed of resolution often depends on the artist’s status or influence. Smaller, independent artists are left powerless to protect their profiles and their work.

 

The coalition of musicians behind this letter is calling for a straightforward solution: streaming platforms and digital distributors must implement a functional authentication system.

 

Without these protections, the artists warn, streaming services are headed toward a future filled with AI impersonations, fake releases, and endless confusion about what is real and what is not. They also argue that if platforms continue to ignore this issue, they should face legal consequences for failing to protect creators from fraud.

 

Here is their open letter to Music Streaming Platforms and Digital Music Distributors:

 

The rapidly changing landscape of technology as it pertains to the arts has brought about a great number of changes in the ecosystem of creators in the last few decades.  What was once the great hope of streaming has devolved into a situation of hopelessness for the overwhelming majority of artists, musicians, songwriters, and other creatives in the music industry.  The proliferation of AI-generated music is only adding to this most uncertain future and raises a myriad of ethical issues in an industry that already feels vastly unjust to those who have dedicated their lives to bringing their music to the world. 

 

Within the current framework of digital music distribution, there lies a glaring oversight: the lack of an authentication process for uploading music to digital streaming platforms.  Currently, anyone has the ability to easily upload any music onto the profile of any artist on any existing streaming platform.  This has resulted in an abundance of fake songs populating DSPs, some human-made, but increasingly AI-generated, which are being presented as the work of existing legitimate artists.  Fake songs, fake albums, and fake collaborations are rife now on these platforms.  Whether AI-generated or man-made, these tracks are being uploaded and royalties collected by bad actors at an industrial scale.  The abundance of AI tools only makes the scam infinitely easier.  The only current recourse is for artists, managers, and record labels to deal with each of these fraudulent cases directly with DSPs, which is time-consuming and laborious for all parties involved.  The effectiveness and expedience of this solution is also highly dependent on the standing of the artist, leaving many smaller independent artists hopelessly disempowered to resolve their issues effectively.  This ever-growing wave of illegal uploading is compromising both the reputations of artists and of the streaming platforms by creating a degraded user experience for listeners.  Unaddressed, the situation will only become exponentially worse.

 

We are demanding that digital distributors and streaming platforms institute a functional authentication system to prevent this.  Without one, the future of the streaming landscape is one populated with an endless sea of AI impersonations that impacts artists and cheapens the experience and usefulness of the streaming platforms themselves.  Authentication systems have been implemented in the majority of important online activities; it should be the bare minimum for streaming platforms and distributors to implement when uploading to artist profiles.  Without these measures, streaming platforms are leaving the door wide open for a non-stop barrage of fraudulent activity to occur.  Without an authentication process in place, these platforms should face legal penalties for failing to prevent fraud. 

 

We are calling on the music industry, politicians, and lawmakers around the world to take measures to protect our creators in these most uncertain times.

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LIST OF SIGNATORIES BELOW:

 

Hiatus Kaiyote - The Sweet Enoughs - Snarky Puppy Anderson .Paak - King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Chaka Khan - 9th Wonder - Anthony Fantano - Jill Scott - Alice Ivy - Domi and JD Beck - Kimbra - Nick Hakim - Mario Caldato Jr - The Kount - BADBADNOTGOOD - Willow Smith - Karriem Riggins - Mildlife - Stro Elliot -Andrew Huang - House Shoes - Nick Speed - DJ Nu-Mark - Mickey de Grand IV - Kiefer - IDK - Tom Brenneck - Jeff Ellis - Jonti - Machinedrum - The Teskey Brothers - Jordan Rakei - Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Saul Williams - Rapsody - Animals as Leaders - Lalah Hathaway - FKJ - Genesis Owusu - Rich Medina - Mayer Hawthorne - Ecca Vandal - Teebs - Leon Michaels - MNDSGN - Tank and The Bangas - Gilles Peterson - Jacob Collier - The Gaslamp Killer - Seun Kuti - Surprise Chef - The Free Nationals - Marcin - Devin Morrison - Cartoons - Georgia Anne Muldrow - ATC Management - Pharoahe Monch - Shafig Husayn - Danny Brown - Kenny Beats - Tom Misch - Dwele - Guilty Simpson - Bilal - Amber Mark - Instupendo - Float Waves