An unidentified 53-year-old earned over £230,000 through fake plays on hundreds of tracks
A Danish man has been sentenced to prison in a groundbreaking case for fraudulently profiting from royalties on hundreds of tracks on music streaming sites. In the country’s first case of its kind, the 53-year-old man from East Jutland, who remains unnamed in the Danish press, was convicted on Thursday. He made at least 2 million Danish kroner (£229,676) from artificially generated streams of “several hundred” music tracks.
Prosecutors argued that the significant revenue couldn’t have come from legitimate users, suggesting unauthorized methods were used instead. The court in Aarhus also convicted him of copyright infringement on 37 tracks, which were altered versions of other artists’ work. Prosecutors claimed he took pieces from other artists, adjusted their length and tempo, and released them under his own name.
He received a sentence of one year and six months, with three months to be served in prison. The judge confiscated 2 million Danish kroner, half from the man and half from his company. Additionally, he was fined 200,000 Danish kroner. The artificially generated streams were so numerous that he ranked as Denmark’s 46th highest-earning composer for streaming between 2014 and 2017. Musicians, artists, composers, and copyright activists celebrated the verdict as historic.
Maria Fredenslund, the CEO of the Danish Rights Alliance, which brought the case to light in 2018, expressed satisfaction with the court’s ruling. She stated, “We are pleased that the court has recognized the serious nature of streaming fraud. This landmark verdict underscores the gravity of stream manipulation issues. It demonstrates that such fraud can be identified and that both rights holders and authorities treat it with the utmost seriousness.”
Fredenslund also emphasized the precedent this case sets. She said, “It establishes a crucial foundation for preventing similar cases in the future, particularly considering advancements in artificial intelligence.”
Anna Lidell, chair of Autor, the largest Danish association for composers, songwriters, lyricists, and producers, remarked, “This case is truly significant and historic, sending a clear message that infringing upon the rights of songwriters is unacceptable.”
She continued, “The individual deceived his way to millions of streams, while also breaching copyright by altering and releasing the tracks. This behavior is a mockery to those who work tirelessly in the music industry, often earning minimal compensation.”
Originally accused of earning 4.38 million kroner from streams of 689 music pieces across various services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouSee Musik, the court stated on Thursday that it lacked adequate data to confirm the exact number of artificially generated tracks played, their frequencies, or the resulting royalties.
Amir Amirian, the senior specialist prosecutor on the case, commented to the Guardian, “This is a landmark case, the first of its kind in Denmark to my knowledge. It’s significant because if similar cases arise in the future, this will serve as the primary reference. It’s crucial that the judge ruled this as data fraud. This behavior is unlawful, not a loophole in legislation or similar.”
He expressed hope that the verdict would serve as a strong deterrent to others contemplating similar schemes.
The convicted individual indicated his intention to appeal the verdict in the high court.
