Deezer Is Cracking Down on Fake Music and Fake Streams

The siege on slop music is in full force. French music streaming service Deezer said Tuesday it will remove AI-generated songs used for fraudulent streams after determining that more than half the songs uploaded to its site are generated by artificial intelligence. Deezer said it will also remove tracks that have not been streamed for six months or more. The company said it’s getting nearly 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day, after having identified more than 13.4 million AI tracks on its platform last year. In June 2025, Deezer began tagging albums that include AI and has been excluding AI music from algorithmic and editorial recommendations. Deezer said that fully AI-generated songs comprise only 1% to 3% of its total streams, but that 85% of those streams were fraudulent last year. The company said it doesn’t pay royalties for streams that it determines have been manipulated. A representative for Deezer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fraudulent streams Bad actors can use AI and automation to get money from streaming services, such as Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal. Using tools like Suno, Udio and AIVA, fraudsters can quickly and easily create thousands of AI songs, sometimes even with simple text prompts to set genre, mood, instruments and lyrics. They can then bulk-upload the music and employ streaming farms and bots to do millions of fake streams and listens. The more streams they amass, the more royalty payments they get from streaming services. Earlier this year, a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to this type of scheme, gaining more than $8 million in royalties. Billboard reported in November that Suno’s 2 million-plus consumers are generating 7 million AI songs every 2 weeks, more than the entire Spotify catalog. A recent study said that creators could lose nearly 25% of their revenues — upwards of $4 billion — by 2028 due to fraudulent AI music streams. Apple Music VP Oliver Schusser told The Hollywood Reporter in February that his division identified 2 billion fraudulent streams in 2025, preventing royalty payouts of $17 million. More from CNET: I Only Listened to AI Music for a Week. It Was Terrible, but Not for the Reason You Think Buyer, beware Streaming services have also taken action against AI-generated music in recent months. In late April, Spotify announced it would add verification badges to artist profiles so listeners and others would know which music is from real people and not AI. Last month, Tidal said it would label music that is completely AI-generated and also remove fraudulent or deceptive tracks. People need to know if the music they are streaming is from a human or AI, says CNET AI reporter Katelyn Chedraoui. Chedraoui, who earlier this year wrote about folks fighting to save the internet from AI slop, says AI labels and badges aren’t sufficient. “Streaming giants will have to be extremely vigilant, but so far, they haven’t cracked down hard on AI music,” Chedraoui said. “So, the responsibility to avoid AI music slopification lies with us. People who are uploading AI-generated or AI-assisted music ought to be transparent with listeners.” Until there is legislation to regulate AI-generated music, consumers will have to mostly fend for themselves to figure out what’s AI, says CNET senior editor Kourtnee Jackson. “Consumers can generally just rely on labels, badges and word-of-mouth to discern what’s made with AI and what’s not,” Jackson said. “Be aware that independent creators, musicians and companies like Suno are contributing to the creation and consumption of AI-generated music.” In a press release, Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said his company is trying to protect the rights of artists and songwriters and maintain “focus on music that fans actually love.” Without explicitly saying so, Lanternier also encouraged other streaming apps to join the fight. “If the industry can align a