Deezer is cracking down on fake music and live streaming

The siege on soft music is in full force. French music streaming service Deezer said on Tuesday it would remove artificial intelligence-generated songs used in fraudulent streaming After setting More than half of the songs uploaded to its site are created by artificial intelligence.

Deezer said it will also remove tracks that have not been streamed for six months or more.

The company said it gets nearly 90,000 fully AI-generated routes every day, after defining more than 13.4 million AI routes on its platform last year. In June 2025, Deezer I started tagging albums that included AI AI music has been excluded from algorithmic and editorial recommendations.

Deezer said fully AI-generated songs only make up 1% to 3% of all streams, but 85% of those streams were fraudulent last year. The company said it does not pay royalties for streams it determines have been manipulated.

A Deezer representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fraudulent streams

Bad actors can use AI and automation to extract money from streaming services, such as Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. Using tools like sun, Share and It was soscammers can create thousands of AI songs quickly and easily, sometimes even using simple text prompts to set genre, mood, instrumentation and lyrics.

They can then upload music in bulk and use streaming farms and bots to do millions of fake streams and listens. The more streams they collect, the more royalty payments they get from streaming services. Earlier this year, A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty For this type of scheme, he earned more than $8 million in revenue.

Billboard reported in November Suno’s 2 million-plus users produce 7 million AI-powered songs every two weeks, more than Spotify’s entire catalog.

A recent study said that creative people It could lose approximately 25% of its revenue – Over $4 billion – by 2028 due to fraudulent AI-powered music streams. Apple Music vice president Oliver Schusser told The Hollywood Reporter in February that his department identified 2 billion fraudulent streams in 2025, preventing $17 million in royalties from being paid.

More from CNET: I’ve only been listening to AI music for a week. It was terrible, but not for the reason you think

Buyer, beware

Streaming services have also taken action against AI-generated music in recent months. In late April, Spotify announced that it would add verification badges to artist profiles so listeners and others can know which music comes from real people and not artificial intelligence. Last month, TIDAL said it would put a label on the music Which is created entirely by artificial intelligence As well as removing fraudulent or deceptive paths.

People need to know whether the music they’re streaming is from a human or an AI, says CNET AI correspondent Caitlin Shedrawi. Al-Shadrawi, who wrote earlier this year about people Fighting to save the Internet from artificial intelligenceAI labels and badges are not enough, he says.

“Streaming giants will have to be very vigilant, but so far they have not taken strict measures against AI music,” Al-Shadrawi said. “So, it’s our responsibility to avoid the decline of AI music. People who upload AI-generated or AI-powered music must be transparent with their listeners.”

Until there is legislation to regulate AI-generated music, consumers will mostly have to fend for themselves on what AI is, says CNET senior editor Courtney Jackson. “Consumers can generally rely only on labels, badges and word of mouth to differentiate what is made with AI and what is not,” Jackson said. “Be aware that creatives, musicians, and independent companies like Suno are contributing to the creation and consumption of AI-generated music.”

In a press release, Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said his company tries to protect the rights of artists and songwriters and maintain a “focus on the music that fans actually love.” Without explicitly stating it, Lanternier also encouraged other streaming apps to join the fight.

“If the industry can align and collaborate to create common standards, we can build a healthy and sustainable music ecosystem, where great music wins,” the CEO said.