I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy
A journalist used DistroKid's loophole to publish an Udio-generated song on Lathe of Heaven's verified Spotify page, exposing a widespread AI music royalty scam.
A 404 Media reporter generated a punk song with Udio and, via a $3.75-per-month DistroKid account, released it under the name of Brooklyn punk band Lathe of Heaven without any identity verification by the distributor or streaming platforms. The AI-generated track appeared a day later on the band's Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music and Deezer pages, with royalties flowing to the uploader. Similar abuse has hit deceased musicians such as Blaze Foley, and Spotify says artist profiles that are not actively managed are especially vulnerable.
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