Apple Music just made streaming fraud way more expensive for cheaters.
The platform doubled its penalties for fake streams. Fraudsters now face fines up to 50% of their would-be royalties. That’s up from the previous 25% cap.
Oliver Schusser, Apple Music’s VP, told The Hollywood Reporter the move targets a growing problem. The service caught 2 billion fraudulent streams in 2025 alone.
“This is a zero-sum game,” Schusser said. “I would like to live in a world where we have zero fraud on the platform, and this has been a very effective tool.”
The new penalties started Sunday. Apple Music first introduced fraud fines in 2022 with a sliding scale from 5% to 25%. Now those numbers jump to a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50%.
Here’s how it works: If someone games the system to claim $1 million in fake royalties, they could face a $500,000 fine. Plus, those bogus streams won’t earn any money.
AI music is making the problem worse. French streaming service Deezer reported that 60,000 AI-generated songs are uploaded daily. That’s 39% of all new music on their platform. Even worse, 85% of AI-generated song streams are fake.
Apple Music’s fraud rate remains under 0.5%. But with billions of total streams, that still adds up fast. The 2 billion fake streams Apple caught last year would have cost real artists about $17 million.
Schusser says most competitors struggle with this issue. Apple Music’s advantage comes from iOS security and human editors who curate playlists. They don’t rely solely on algorithms, as other platforms do.
The company validates every single play on Apple Music. When they find fraud, they remove the stream counts and chart positions. The money goes back to honest artists instead.
“Increasing the penalties takes the money from people who are cheating and puts it back into the system for those who aren’t,” Schusser explained.
The timing connects to AI music flooding streaming services. Scammers use AI to quickly create fake songs. They build networks of fake artists and playlists to drive streams.
Some avoid detection by spreading their plays across many tracks rather than focusing on just a few.
Apple Music won’t say when fines become permanent bans. The company didn’t respond to questions about upgrading penalties to straight removal from the platform.
The streaming wars keep heating up over fraud detection. Apple Music positions itself as the quality choice compared to ad-supported competitors. Schusser took shots at free music tiers, calling them part of the problem.
“You’ve got the wrong incentives in the market about people trying to get number one songs and charts,” he said. “It’s not good for our ecosystem.”
The 50% penalty cap sends a clear message to would-be fraudsters. Apple Music won’t tolerate fake streams, especially as AI makes cheating easier than ever.
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