US Copyright Office inquiry puts pre-upload checks on the table for streaming fraud

The stakes are the royalty pool. ARI argues that fraudulent streams can shrink legitimate artists' shares of revenue-share pools without necessarily raising streaming services' costs. Platforms can look untouched while artists earn less. Nothing is settled yet. The comment period runs to 23 November.

Pre-upload checks, not after-the-fact algorithms

ARI says the problem runs past fake plays. Its comments point to AI-generated recordings, unauthorized copies and hijacked artist identities entering streaming services through digital distributors without adequate verification.

The target is the upload, not the play. The group wants distributors to verify who is uploading, who owns the rights and who collects the money, before a recording goes live. It argues that streaming services should not lean on algorithms or royalty thresholds to fix failures at the distribution stage. ARI also says flat-fee distributors have little incentive to vet users, and suggests the structure could warrant investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization statute.

One proposal goes to money. ARI suggests a per-stream mechanical royalty, which it says would align financial incentives with fraud prevention.

The royalty pool is the pressure point

The pool itself keeps growing, which is why the split matters.

UMG reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of €3.394 billion, up 12.3% year on year, with paid-account revenue in recorded music up 19.2%. The IFPI's Global Music Report 2026, published on 18 March, put 2025 industry revenue at $31.7 billion, up 6.4% and the 11th consecutive year of growth. Streaming contributed more than $22 billion, or 69.6% of the total. Paid services were projected to grow 8.8% and hold 52.4% of the market, with 837 million subscribers worldwide.

Labels press DistroKid for AI track data

The courtroom fight over the same question continued this week. UMG, Sony Music and DistroKid told a federal court in Manhattan that they "are working on a resolution" in their dispute over DistroKid's AI music data. Judge Arun Subramanian approved the joint filing on 28 October; lawyers signed it a day earlier.

DistroKid now has until 6 November to respond to the labels' request for a court order. Digital Music News reported that the deadline had been 4 November.

UMG and Sony want to know how many tracks DistroKid delivers to streaming services are flagged as AI-generated, and how many are attributed to Suno. They also want total streams and royalties from the flagged recordings. The labels served the subpoena in September and said DistroKid "refuses to produce a single document". DistroKid says it distributes 30-40% of "all new music in the world". The filing does not say whether it will hand over any of the data.

Suno wants Apple to testify

Suno is pressing a parallel argument about market harm. It filed on 27 October opposing Apple's bid to block a deposition subpoena in the copyright case.

Apple asked a federal court in California on 13 October to block the demand, calling the topics irrelevant, overbroad and disproportionate. Suno wants live testimony on Apple's licensing talks with UMG and Sony, and on whether Apple Music could survive without their catalogues.

Suno has agreed to accept a written sworn statement on five of nine topics. It still seeks live testimony on four.

UMG and Sony first sued Suno in June 2024 over 560 recordings, seeking up to $150,000 per work, a theoretical maximum of around $84 million. A second suit in September covers 60,202 further recordings, which at the same ceiling would top $9 billion.

What happens next

Three dates frame the next few weeks. The Copyright Office comment period runs to 23 November. DistroKid's response deadline is 6 November. The Manhattan court has yet to rule on the labels' proposed order.

The Apple deposition fight and the Massachusetts copyright case remain unresolved. For artists and distributors, the practical question is unchanged: who checks an upload, and who gets paid when nobody does.