Not a member yet? Join APRA AMCOS

Already started a Writer Member application? Continue

Manipulated tracks on music streaming services

Published Thursday 26 October 2023

The boom in royalties generated from music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music has attracted ‘bad actors’, who seek to manipulate data to falsely claim and receive payments from recording artists and composers. This is an issue that we take very seriously and we are actively taking measures to ensure correct payments are made to members.

This erroneous activity can include:

  • artificial or manipulated streaming that inflates track plays;
  • the upload and release of someone’s copyrighted recorded music and/or composition without permission; and
  • registering songs under false pretenses.

Putting a stop to this activity involves the digital platforms and services and the systems and processes they have in place to identify and address suspicious activity.

What should you do if you think your music is being used without your permission?

You can report copyright infringement direct with the major digital services and request a takedown of the content in question.

You should contact your record label, digital distributor and/or publisher when you first suspect an issue.

If you believe that any of your registered works with APRA AMCOS are being used without your permission, please contact our Writer Services team so that we can take measures to protect your work and royalties.

How else can you help us to help you?

Make sure you provide accurate metadata when you register a song. You can add details to an existing registration as well.

The ‘metadata’ is the unique information about your work that you provide in the registration process and helps us to accurately match your work with the data we receive from DSPs.

Important information to include in your registrations:

  • Performers
  • ISRC
  • Title
  • Composers
  • Duration

Once the work has an ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code – think of it as the composition equivalent of an ISRC), provide this to your aggregator. You can find it in the app and the Writer Portal with your registration.

When considering what digital aggregator to use, it is strongly recommended to use one that provides the ISWC and songwriter information to DSPs.