Sony removes 135K deepfake music of Beyoncé, Harry Styles, more
What's the story
Sony Music has asked streaming platforms to take down over 1,35,000 songs that have been created using generative AI and falsely claim to feature its artists, reported BBC. The music label said these deepfakes are causing "direct commercial harm to legitimate recording artists" and deliberately target musicians promoting new albums. The affected artists include Beyoncé, Queen, and Harry Styles; other acts who may have been affected include Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus, and Mark Ronson.
Statement
Number of such songs is increasing
Dennis Kooker, president of Sony's global digital business, said in a statement, "In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist." He added that the number of such songs is only increasing as AI technology becomes cheaper and more accessible.
Exploitation
'Taking advantage of an artist's popularity'
Kooker further explained that deepfakes are a "demand-driven event" that takes advantage of an artist's popularity. He said, "They are taking advantage of the fact that an artist is out there promoting their music." "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."
Challenges
Streaming fraud is another issue
The music industry is also worried about streaming fraud, where fake artists upload songs to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music and artificially inflate their play counts for royalty payments. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) says AI has "supercharged" this practice, robbing legitimate artists of payments. Unofficially, the industry believes up to 10% of content across all streaming platforms is fraudulent.