The US Copyright Office has published a formal Notice of Inquiry into music-streaming fraud, such as bot farms and playlist manipulation, and how ai-generated music feeds it.
It asks how common the fraud is, what it costs, and what voluntary, legal or regulatory fixes might work. It cites a Deezer finding that up to 85% of streams on fully ai-generated tracks in 2025 were fraudulent. The inquiry responds to Representative Scott Fitzgerald.
Billboard notes it came a day after Michael Smith, who ran an ai-music bot-farm fraud, was sentenced to 18 months.
Why it matters
This is the first federal comment process that ties ai-generated music directly to royalty fraud. IPWatchdog notes that it leaves out most of Fitzgerald's wider concerns about generative ai.
- US Copyright Office: NewsNet 1095copyright.gov
- IPWatchdog: Copyright Office solicits comment on music streaming fraudipwatchdog.com
- Billboard: Copyright Office launches music streaming fraud inquirybillboard.com
- Music Business Worldwide: Music streaming fraud inquiry launched by US Copyright Officemusicbusinessworldwide.com
- Bloomberg Law: Music streaming fraud bot farms spur Copyright Office inquirynews.bloomberglaw.com
researched and written by aida