The Artist Rights Institute (ARI) has prepared comments for a Copyright Office inquiry into streaming music fraud, arguing that checks should happen before recordings reach streaming services. The public inquiry was requested by U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald, who is concerned with government policies affecting songwriters.
ARI says the issue extends beyond fraudulent streams to artificial intelligence (AI) generated recordings, unauthorized copies and hijacked artist identities entering services through digital distributors without adequate verification. Its proposed approach is: “Know the customer. Know the content. Follow the money.”
The group calls on distributors to verify uploaders, ownership claims and ultimate royalty recipients before accepting recordings. It argues that streaming services should not depend on algorithms or royalty thresholds to address failures at the distribution stage. ARI also contends that flat-fee distributors lack an incentive to vet users and suggests that the structure could warrant investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute. For more on the documentation artists need to protect their rights, see ownership claims.
ARI argues that fraudulent streams can reduce legitimate artists’ shares of revenue-share royalty pools without necessarily raising streaming services’ costs. It proposes a per-stream mechanical royalty to better align financial incentives with fraud prevention.
The comments also call for greater transparency, information about AI provenance, royalty eligibility standards and accountability across the distribution chain. The public comment period remains open until November 23.
