Deezer highlights growing fraud streaming linked to AI music
Deezer claims AI-driven fraud is distorting music streaming at an unprecedented scale. Read on to explore what it means.
Deezer has revealed that a striking proportion of streams involving fully AI-generated music may be fraudulent, highlighting a growing problem for streaming platforms and the wider music industry. According to the company, up to 85% of streams linked to AI-created tracks in 2025 were driven by manipulation rather than genuine listening, raising concerns about how easily automated systems can be used to exploit royalty models.
The scale of AI music on streaming platforms is expanding rapidly. Deezer says it now receives tens of thousands of fully AI-generated tracks every day, accounting for a significant share of new uploads. Yet despite this volume, AI music still represents only a small percentage of overall listening. The discrepancy suggests that much of the activity around AI tracks is not organic, but instead fuelled by bots designed to inflate play counts and generate revenue.
Compared with the rest of its catalogue, where fraudulent activity makes up a far smaller share of streams, AI music appears disproportionately linked to manipulation. This has prompted Deezer to take a more aggressive approach to detection and enforcement. The company has developed technology to identify synthetic tracks, remove fraudulent streams from royalty calculations and limit the visibility of fully AI-generated music in recommendations and playlists.
Deezer has also begun sharing its detection tools with external organisations, signalling an attempt to address the issue at an industry level rather than treating it as an isolated platform problem. The move reflects a growing recognition that AI-driven fraud is unlikely to be solved by individual companies acting alone.
At the same time, the situation exposes a broader tension within the music industry. Generative AI offers new creative possibilities and lowers barriers to music-making, but it also blurs the boundaries between human and machine-made work. As synthetic content becomes harder to distinguish from traditional recordings, questions around authorship, copyright and fair payment become increasingly difficult to resolve.
For artists, the implications are significant. Streaming already operates on thin margins, and the proliferation of automated content designed to game algorithms risks further diluting revenue and attention. For platforms, the challenge is both technical and philosophical: how to embrace innovation without allowing systems built for discovery and distribution to be overtaken by artificial activity.
Deezer’s findings suggest that AI music is no longer a fringe experiment but a structural issue that could reshape how streaming works. Whether the industry can adapt quickly enough to protect artists and maintain trust in digital music ecosystems remains an open question.