Danish man convicted of illegally profiting from music streaming royalties

An unnamed 53-year-old earned at least £230,000 from artificially generated plays on hundreds of tracks

A Danish man has been sentenced to prison in a groundbreaking case for fraudulently profiting from royalties on hundreds of tracks on music streaming sites. The 53-year-old from East Jutland, who remains unnamed in Danish press reports, was convicted on Thursday. This marked the country’s first case of this nature. He was found guilty of earning at least 2 million Danish kroner (£229,676) from artificially generated streams of “several hundred” music tracks. Prosecutors argued that the numbers of streams required to generate such earnings could not have been achieved by genuine users and likely involved unauthorized techniques.

The court in Aarhus also found him guilty of breaching copyright on 37 tracks, which were altered versions of other musicians’ work. Prosecutors had alleged that he took works from other artists, modified their length and tempo, and released them under his own name.

He received a sentence of one year and six months, with a requirement to serve three months in prison. The judge also confiscated 2 million Danish kroner, half from the man and half from his company, and imposed a fine of 200,000 Danish kroner. The inflated number of streams made him Denmark’s 46th highest-earning composer for streaming between 2014 and 2017. Musicians, artists, composers, and copyright advocates praised the verdict as historic.

Maria Fredenslund, CEO of the Danish Rights Alliance, which exposed the case in 2018, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision: “We are pleased that the court has recognized streaming fraud as a serious criminal offense. This landmark verdict underscores the gravity of challenges posed by stream manipulation. The case demonstrates that such fraud can be identified and that both rights holders and authorities treat it with utmost seriousness.”

She noted that the verdict establishes a significant precedent: “It sets an important precedent for deterring similar cases in the future, particularly considering advancements in artificial intelligence.”

Anna Lidell, chair of Autor, Denmark’s largest association for composers, songwriters, lyricists, and producers, emphasized the significance of the case: “This is a truly important and historic ruling, sending a clear message that our rights as songwriters cannot be infringed upon.”

She went on to say, “The individual cheated his way to millions of listens and also infringed copyright by altering and releasing the tracks. This behavior is a mockery to those who work hard every day to create music and earn very little in return.”

He was initially accused of earning 4.38 million kroner from streams of 689 music pieces on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouSee Musik. However, the court stated on Thursday that it lacked sufficient data to confirm the exact number of artificially generated tracks played, the frequency of plays, or the royalties earned.

Amir Amirian, the senior specialist prosecutor on the case, told the Guardian, “This is a landmark case and as far as I know, it’s the first of its kind in Denmark. This is significant because if similar cases arise in the future, this will be the key case to refer to. It’s crucial, from my perspective, that the court ruled this as data fraud. This is actually illegal; it’s not a loophole in the law or anything like that.”

He added that he hoped the case would serve as a clear warning to deter others from attempting similar schemes.

The convicted individual indicated his intention to appeal against the verdict in the high court.