Every stream of your music should put money in your pocket—not in the hands of fraudsters. But in today’s digital music world, streaming fraud is a real threat, and if you don’t protect yourself, your earnings could be stolen, frozen, or even wiped out.
Fraud on streaming platforms happens in many ways: fake streams, account manipulation, royalty theft, and illegal reuploads of your music. The dangers are beyond just stealing your money—they can get your music taken down, block your payments, or even get you banned from streaming services.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to spot fraud before it costs you and what to do to safeguard your music and royalties.
Common Streaming Fraud Tactics (And How to Detect Them)
1. Fake Streams (Bots and Click Farms)
Fraudsters use bots or click farms to artificially inflate streams, making it look like a song is performing well. While this might sound tempting, it’s actually a major risk. Streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Boomplay have advanced fraud detection systems. If they catch fake streams linked to your account, they could:
–Withhold your royalties,
–Take down your music, and
–Ban you from their platform
Bot frauds are especially dangerous if most of the streams of your songs are traceable to them.
So How Do You Spot It?
The first sign is if you notice an unrealistic spike in streams from unknown locations.
There can also be abnormally high play counts but low engagement (few likes, comments, or shares).
And the final unmistakable giveaway? A large number of streams from non-organic sources (e.g., unknown playlists with no followers).
To stop it, do the following:
-Never buy fake streams—they will cost you more than you gain.
-Track your streaming analytics (Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists) to identify unusual activity.
-Promote your music organically—use real marketing and trusted playlist services.
2. Royalty Theft (Your Money Going to Someone Else)
This happens when fraudsters upload your music under a different name or manipulate your metadata to divert your earnings to their account.
You may notice your song uploaded by another artist on streaming platforms. You may also observe that your royalties don’t match your streaming numbers. And to cap it all up, your distributor reports discrepancies in payments.
This has to be stopped. And how do you do that?
First, ensure you use a trusted distributor like Highvibes Distribution to ensure your royalties go directly to you.
Also, register your songs with ISRC codes (International Standard Recording Code) so your music is uniquely identified.
And search for your songs regularly on streaming platforms to check for unauthorized uploads.
3. Unauthorized Reuploads (Music Jacking)
Some scammers steal songs from independent artists, rename them, and upload them as their own. If they do this before you, they can claim ownership of your work.
If you find your song appears under a different artist’s name, or a distributor rejects your upload, saying it’s already been claimed, this means your song has been jacked.
But you prevent it by doing the following:
Release your music first and register it under your name.
Use YouTube Content ID and digital fingerprinting services to detect unauthorized uploads.
And if you’ve already found that your song has been stolen, file a copyright claim immediately.
Your Music is Your Business
As such, keep it secure, keep it authentic, and make sure every cent goes where it belongs: to you.
