Photo Credit: Stanislav Vlasov
Sony Music says it has requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs created by fraudsters impersonating its artists on streaming services. AI deepfakes of Beyoncé, Queen, and Harry Styles are among those removed.
Digital Music News has been reporting on the existence of AI deepfakes proliferating on digital streaming providers like Spotify, which does not require an AI label for its music.
Last year, country singer Blaze Foley was the target of deepfakes that saw songs added to his official Spotify Page, despite the artist being dead with no new music in the pipeline from his estate. Tyler, the Creator got a taste of launch deepfakery with the release of his Don’t Tap the Glass album release, which saw several AI tracks released with similar names dampening the album launch on Spotify.
“In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an article,” Dennis Kooker, President of Sony’s Global Digital Business told the BBC. According to Sony, the number of tracks generated in this manner is only increasing as artificial intelligence technology becomes cheaper and easier to access for the masses. Sony says the 135,000 tracks represent just a small portion of the total uploaded to streaming services.
Since March 2025, Sony says it has identified 60,000 tracks falsely claiming to feature artists from its roster. Acts impacted by these deepfakes include Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus, and Mark Ronson.
“The problem with deepfakes is that they are a demand-driven event,” Kooker continues. “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 of and benefitting from the demand and artist has created. Ultimately, it distracts from what the artist is trying to accomplish.”
Digital Music News also reported on a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard fakery after the band took a stand against Spotify and removed their music from the service. Almost over night, a new deepfake band popped up with tracks that were suspiciously similar in sound to the removed tracks—some featuring the same names.
