Why Warner Music Operates a Covert Spotify Remix Account

Hey everyone, happy Friday and welcome back to Soundbite. Today we’re looking at how record labels are reacting to the sped-up music trend. Plus, we’ve got a whole lotta music fraud conversation. As always, if you have something to share, reach me through email, and if you haven’t yet subscribed to this newsletter, please do so here.

Earlier today I published a story about the various fraudulent schemes music labels, managers and artists regularly face. I name two specific methods: The first is sped-up and slowed-down versions of songs that proliferate on streaming services and seemingly never stop sprouting up, effectively taking attention away from the authentic tracks. The second is unknown artists tagging recognizable names as being “featured” on a track, thereby giving them access to the platform’s algorithmic promotions built around that bigger star. This isn’t so much about stealing royalties from an artist, though it does boost the tagger’s reach, but rather about deviously manipulating the services’ software.