A 53-year-old individual, who remains unnamed, made a minimum of £230,000 from artificially generated plays on hundreds of tracks
A Danish man has been sentenced to prison in a groundbreaking case after being found guilty of fraudulently profiting from royalties on hundreds of tracks on music streaming sites.
In Denmark’s first case of its kind, the 53-year-old man from East Jutland, whose name has not been disclosed by the Danish press, was convicted on Thursday of earning at least 2 million Danish kroner (£229,676) from artificially generated streams of “several hundred” music tracks.
Prosecutors argued that the number of streams needed to generate that amount of money could not have been achieved by genuine users and that unauthorized techniques were likely used instead.
The court in Aarhus also found him guilty of copyright infringement for 37 tracks, which were altered versions of other musicians’ work. Prosecutors alleged that he had taken works from other artists, modified their length and tempo, and released them under his own name.
He received a sentence of one year and six months, with a requirement to serve three months in prison, and the judge confiscated 2 million Danish kroner (half from the man and half from his company). Additionally, he was fined 200,000 Danish kroner.
The artificially generated streams were so numerous that he became Denmark’s 46th highest-earning composer for streaming between 2014 and 2017.
Musicians, artists, composers, and copyright campaigners praised what they called a historic verdict.
Maria Fredenslund, the CEO of the Danish Rights Alliance, which brought attention to the case in 2018, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision, stating, “We are pleased that the court has recognized streaming fraud as a deeply criminal and serious offense. This historic verdict sends a strong signal about the seriousness of challenges related to stream manipulation. The case also demonstrates that this type of fraud can be identified and that both rights holders and authorities treat the issue with gravity.”
Anna Lidell, chair of Autor, the largest Danish association for composers, songwriters, lyricists, and producers, commented on the case, stating, “It’s truly an important and historic case, sending a clear message that our rights as songwriters cannot be infringed upon.” Lidell emphasized the impact of the fraud, noting, “The man cheated his way to millions of listens, while also violating copyright by altering and releasing the tracks. This is a mockery to those who work hard every day to create music and earn very little.”
He was initially accused of earning 4.38 million kroner from streams of 689 music pieces on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouSee Musik. However, the court stated on Thursday that it lacked sufficient data to confirm the exact number of artificially generated tracks played, the frequency of plays, or the resulting royalties.
Amir Amirian, the senior specialist prosecutor on the case, explained to the Guardian, “This is a landmark case, the first of its kind in Denmark to my knowledge. It’s significant because if similar cases arise in the future, this will be the key case to reference. It’s crucial that the judge ruled this as data fraud. This is a clear violation of the law, not a loophole or ambiguity in legislation.”
Amirian expressed hope that the case would serve as a strong deterrent to others considering similar schemes.
The convicted individual indicated his intention to appeal the verdict in the high court.