On September 10, the Brooklyn-based punk band Lathe of Heaven released a new single on its verified Spotify page called Riding High.
asserted
band → base → page
Any fan of Lathe of Heaven would have immediately noticed that the song sounded nothing like the band’s previous work, that the vocals were not from lead singer Gage Allison, and that the album cover was widely different from the style and logo the band used previously.
asserted
band → notice → style
That’s because Lathe of Heaven didn’t write, perform, or willingly release Riding High.
asserted
Lathe → ’ → High
I created the song with a simple prompt given to the AI music generator Udio, and I was able to release the track on Lathe of Heaven’s official Spotify page, as well as on its Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music pages, without the band’s knowledge, by exploiting a glaring loophole in the way music is digitally distributed to streaming platforms.
asserted
music → create → platforms
The loophole has existed for years, but people who make AI slop music are now widely abusing it.
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who → exist → it
Today, anyone can easily hijack a real artist’s Spotify page and flood it with AI-generated music.
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anyone → hijack → music
When someone clicks one of those tracks expecting to hear music from their favorite artists, the scammer will collect whatever royalties those streams generate, essentially piggybacking on their popularity, and the listener will hear low quality slop instead of their favorite artist.
asserted
listener → click → artist
Various instances of this scam have been documented in the past, but 404 Media was able to identify and replicate the exact loophole scammers are exploiting.
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scammers → document → loophole
It was trivial to do, and neither music streaming platforms nor digital music distributors are taking responsibility for the problem.
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platforms → do → problem
It also appears that the loophole is more likely to work against lesser known artists or artists who are no longer alive, as opposed to famous musicians, though they can also be affected.
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they → appear → musicians
Spotify told me that “profiles that aren't actively managed can be especially vulnerable,” meaning that if someone isn’t actively monitoring an artist’s page on Spotify it’s an easier target.
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it → tell → Spotify
Last year, I reported on Blaze Foley, a country musician who was murdered in 1989, but whose Spotify page was suddenly featuring new, AI-generated music under his name.
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page → report → name
I’ve recently reviewed dozens of examples of other dead musicians who are also apparently publishing AI-generated music under their names on Spotify.
asserted
who → review → Spotify
In some cases, album covers for dead, Black jazz musicians feature white, AI generated artists instead.
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covers → feature → artists
The Loophole
Digital music distributors are services that help musicians deliver and manage their music online.
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musicians → help → music
Rather than uploading their music to each music streamer separately, artists upload their music to one music digital distributor, which then uploads their music to the platforms of their choosing.
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which → upload → choosing
This way, artists can manage their catalogue and collect their earnings from a consolidated service rather than manage their music separately across Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple, Tidal, and other platforms.
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artists → manage → Spotify
The consolidation offered by digital music distributors is an incredible convenience, but is also easily exploited by bad actors.
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consolidation → offer → actors
To take advantage of it, I created a song on Udio with the prompt “generate a punk song with male vocalist,” and made the album cover with ChatGPT.
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I → take → ChatGPT
I created an account with one of these digital music distributors, Distrokid, for $3.75 a month, and uploaded the track.
asserted
I → create → track
When Distrokid asked for my artist/band name, I typed in Lathe of Heaven.
asserted
I → ask → Heaven
Distrokid automatically found the existing Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon pages for the real Lathe of Heaven, and asked if that was my band.
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that → find → Heaven
It then asked me for a bunch of information the music streaming platforms require, like who composed the music, who produced it, and the record label.
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who → ask → it
I put my real name down everywhere and listed 404 Records as the record label.
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I → put → label
Distrokid also made me check a few boxes.
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me → make → boxes
One said: “I recorded this music, and am authorized to sell it in stores worldwide & collect all royalties.”
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I → say → royalties
Another said: “I’m not using any other artist’s name in my name, song titles, or album title, without their approval.”
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I → say → approval
I checked the boxes.
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I → check → boxes
Neither Distrokid nor the music streaming platforms did anything to verify any of my answers.
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Distrokid → stream → answers
When I was finished filling out the form, Distrokid told me it was in the process of publishing the song on 24 different music streaming platforms.
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it → finish → platforms
A day later, my AI-generated song and album cover appeared on Lathe of Heaven’s real Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tidal, and Deezer pages.
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cover → generate → Spotify
A regular user would have no way of knowing the band didn’t really upload the song, and that any royalties from listening to it would go to me.
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royalties → have → me
“I just listened to the song.
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I → listen → song
It’s appalling.
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It → ’ → ?
The fact that you were able to do that is insane,” Allison, Lather of Heaven’s vocalist, told me.
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Allison → do → me
“The only thing smaller musicians like us have at the end of the day is recognition for the results of our work — being able to enjoy the process of creating something and putting it out into the world knowing it is distinctly a product of our own hands is essentially one of the last driving forces behind making music.
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it → have → music
It’s hard enough putting this much time and effort into the band as it is.
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it → ’ → band
All the members of LoH essentially tailor our lifestyles around having the time to tour, write records and record.
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members → tailor → records
And we do it knowing we will likely not see much money in return.
asserted
we → do → return
The fact that someone could ruin our reputation by dropping this cringe garbage under our name is insanely disheartening and speaks volumes about distribution and streaming services that allow this to happen.”
“100,000 New Tracks Per Day”
This method of digital music distribution is widely abused.
uncertain
method → ruin → distribution
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
