Apple Music says it demonetised two billion “fraudulent” music streams last year

Apple Music demonetised two billion “fraudulent” music streams in 2025, according to the streaming service’s Vice President, Oliver Schusser.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Schusser explained that the platform is making efforts to penalise those who are caught “engaging in streaming fraud”.

The amount of demonetised streams accounts for around $17 million in royalties that could have gone toward real artists, per a royalty calculator from law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips.

Speaking to THR, Schusser calls it a “zero-sum game”, explaining: “I would like to live in a world where we have zero fraud on the platform, and this has been a very effective tool.”

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“Increasing the penalties takes the money from people who are cheating and puts it back into the system for those who aren’t,” he added.

Apple Music is now cracking down harder than ever on streaming fraud after it first introduced penalties in 2022, which demonetised fraudulent streams and fined those responsible.

Those who uploaded fraudulent streams are fined a sum that should have been earned in royalties, beginning at 5% and going up to 25%. According to THR, those percentages have now doubled under the new crackdown.

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In January, French music streaming service Deezer confirmed that it has demonetised 85% of all AI-generated tracks on its platform using an AI-detection tool, which it is now making commercially available for others to purchase.

The AI-detection tool can seek out music made using “prolific” generative models such as Suno and Udio, Deezer says, using it to detect the 60,000 AI-generated tracks it now receives each day.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on X