Music streaming fraud – how does it work, who's making millions, and why does it need so much AI music?

<p><strong>Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe pivot the podcast to the popular TRUE CRIME format in order to woo a giant mainstream audience. OK, not quite – but sort-of. </strong></p><p>We’ve spoken a lot recently about AI-generated music accounting for 50% of music uploaded to streaming platforms – and how the reason for it, mostly, is for it to be used for fraud. We had a few emails asking: so, how does AI music help fraudsters, and how does streaming fraud work anyway?</p><p>So we pulled on our trenchcoats and got investigating – and in this episode we’re going to have a good old root around music streaming fraud: and we think you’ll actually be surprised at how it works, who is doing it – and how much money can be made. </p><ul><li><p><strong>The crime:</strong> Streaming fraud isn&#39;t indie bands cheating to boost their numbers; it’s organised crime laundering money, and stealing from real artists.</p></li><li><p><strong>The scale:</strong> anti-fraud firms estimate that a huge 7–10% of streams are fake, but streamign platforms claim that it’s far lower (but still costing artists a lot of money).</p></li><li><p><strong>How AI powers fraud:</strong> scammers use AI to flood platforms with songs, hiding billions of fake streams across thousands of low-profile tracks.</p></li><li><p><strong>It might be you:</strong> Fraudsters hijack real users&#39; streaming accounts to stream the fake songs overnight and exploit bot farms to manipulate payout thresholds.</p></li><li><p><strong>Betting manipulation:</strong> people using prediction platforms like Kalshi are accused of artificially pumping track streams to win trades – risking account bans for innocent artists.</p></li><li><p><strong>DSP crackdown:</strong> Platforms are fining distributors, purging dead AI catalogue, and wiping fake streams to protect payouts for real creators.</p></li></ul><p><strong>And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our </strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠<strong>Patreon Superfans</strong>⁠⁠</a><strong>, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week&#39;s bonus material:</strong> </p><p><strong>Stu and Joe chat about the recently announced 2026 Mercury prize nominees</strong> – which include young upstart songwriter Paul McCartney. So who do they think should win it, and who do they think will win it? Here&#39;s the list in full, in c