Confronting the Artificial Streaming Dilemma

For over a year, fake plays have been a primary concern for everyone in the music industry, including artists, labels, publishers, distributors, and DSPs. Although the issue has been known for years, it is only in the last two years that statistics have become alarming. Beatdapp, which focuses on this industry problem, reports that streaming fraud can reach up to 10% in certain markets.

Fraudulent activities like streaming farms, account hacks, impersonations, music leaks, and track manipulations have diverted millions in royalties from rightful artists. This pervasive issue requires a nuanced detection and prevention approach. Collaboration among all industry stakeholders, including labels, publishers, DSPs, and distributors, is essential. At Beatrising Distribution, we have partnered with other distributors to enhance our anti-fraud strategies, striving to protect the integrity of royalty distribution.

While identity verification is essential, it constitutes just a small part of the solution. The true key to a successful anti-fraud operation lies in analyzing daily data and tracking transaction flows, alongside scrutinizing reports generated by the stores. This approach can potentially reduce fraudulent activities by at least 70%; any expectation lower than this would be naive.

At Beatrising, we addressed the surge in fraud by bolstering our Client Verification Protocol (CVP) initiatives. We strengthened our legal and data intelligence teams, updated policies with payment providers, and implemented robust identity verification. Inspired by Too Lost, we partnered with Sumsub, which uses biometric scans of IDs and selfies to verify clients. Beatrising doesn’t store personal data; we only receive verification results. Accounts failing verification are reviewed and potentially terminated. This approach has reduced our streaming fraud by over 80%.

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