Music giant Sony Music has announced that it has requested the removal of more than 135,000 deepfake songs from streaming services.
According to Sony, the deepfake songs were made using generative AI and created to impersonate many of the company’s biggest artists, including Harry Styles, Beyoncé and Queen, to name a few.
The figure was shared during the launch of the Global Music Report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) earlier this week.
Harming artists
In a statement issued to the BBC, president of Sony’s global digital business Dennis Kooker detailed the harm these deepfakes can cause, stating: “In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist.”
Beyond artist reputation, fraudulent AI ‘slop’ can hinder an artist’s financial gain.
The proliferation of deepfakes causes “direct commercial harm to legitimate recording artists”, according to Sony, and deliberately targets musicians who are promoting a new album.
Increasing AI generated music
The company says the number of AI generated songs is only increasing as the technology becomes cheaper and easier to access.
It believes the 135,000 tracks it has discovered to date represents just a percentage of the total uploaded to streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
“The problem with deepfakes [is] they are a demand-driven event,” said Kooker.
“They are taking advantage of the fact an artist is out there promoting their music.
“That is when deepfakes are at their worst – building off and benefiting from the demand the artist has created [and] ultimately detracting from what the artist is trying to accomplish.”
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Labelling AI music
The IFPI says the advent of AI has “supercharged” the practice of streaming fraud.
Also known as streaming manipulation, it involves ‘fake’ artists uploading songs to sites such as Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music and artificially boosting their play counts to gain royalty payments.
Unofficially, the music industry believes up to 10 percent of content across all streaming platforms is fraudulent according to BBC.
“I hate to say it, but it’s very simple to fix,” said Victoria Oakley, CEO of IFPI, calling on streaming services to implement tools that can identify fake or AI-generated music when it is uploaded.
“The challenge of identifying and labelling AI material is absolutely the next critical challenge,” she added.
Kooker stated that the French streaming company Deezer already had software capable of this task, claiming that 34 percent of the songs submitted to its service are now categorised as AI-generated.
“Is it perfect? I’m sure it’s not, but it’s open and it’s transparent, and it allows people to understand what is happening,” said Kooker.
“Without proper identification, fans can’t distinguish between genuine human creativity versus unauthorised, AI‑generated content, which risks creating confusion, undermining trust, and impacting user experiences.
“Transparency shouldn’t be optional, it’s the foundation of a fair and sustainable music ecosystem.”
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Angelica N. Hall 
Carmela Calling