Sony Music claims to have culled 135,000 AI deepfakes from streaming services

The major label said it had to request the removal of music on behalf of its artist's from Spotify, Apple Music and more

Sony Music says that it’s had to cull more than 135,000 “deepfakes” of its artist’s music from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, BBC News reports.

The music giant revealed that it has requested the removal of thousands of tracks by “artist impersonators”, which are made using generative AI and shared across major platforms.

According to BBC News, Sony believes that these tracks are just a fraction of the real number of AI fakes on said platforms as artificially made music become more and more prolific with AI software becoming cheaper and easier to use.

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Sony said that it has removed deepfaked tracks of some of its most popular artists including Beyoncé, Queen and Harry Styles, claiming that it causes “commercial harm” to real musicians.

Dennis Kooker, president of Sony’s global digital business, said that in “worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist”.

“The problem with deepfakes is that they are a demand-driven event," he said. "They are taking advantage of the fact that an artist is out there promoting their music.”

Read this next: Apple Music says it demonetised two billion “fraudulent” music streams last year

"That is when deepfakes are at their worst – building off and benefiting from the demand the artist has created [and] ultimately detracting from what the artist is trying to accomplish," he said.

Sony also said that it has identified around 60,000 tracks pretending to be from artists on the label’s roster. BBC News reports that, unofficially, the music industry believes that up to 10% of music across all streaming services is “fraudulent”.

Earlier this month, Apple Music said it will now inform listeners if music on its platform is AI-generated after demonetising two billion “fraudulent” music streams in 2025.

[Via BBC News]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Associate Digital Editor, follow her on X

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