Today, when streaming music has become mainstream, fraudulent playback is still a lingering shadow in the music industry. From robots flooding broadcasts to manipulating rankings, these behaviors not only erode the credibility of the platform, but also directly harm the income of real creators. Recently, Oliver Schusser, who is responsible for Apple Music, Apple TV and other services, revealed in an interview how Apple has strengthened its anti-fraud mechanism in recent years, and revealed that Apple Music has officially increased penalties for fraud.
Apple Music will double penalties for fraudulent streaming to curb cheating
In the most typical cases of streaming fraud, musicians or record labels will use bot networks to play their songs 24 hours a day to accumulate fake playbacks and earn royalties. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, in order to climb the charts, enter popular playlists or increase exposure, various more obscure and complex manipulation techniques have emerged one after another. In order to curb these behaviors, Apple officially introduced a fraud penalty mechanism in 2022 and has continued to strengthen enforcement since then. Apple said in 2023 that stream manipulation on the platform had been reduced by 30%, showing initial results. However, as fraud techniques continue to evolve, Apple must also upgrade its defenses.
according to”The Hollywood Reporter》Latest news, Apple has doubled Apple Music fraud fines across the board. The original starting point for fines was 5%, with a maximum of 25%; now, the starting point has been raised to 10%, with a maximum of 50%. In other words, if a creator or company is involved in a $1 million fraudulent broadcast, they could face fines of up to $500,000. In addition, any playback volume that is determined to be fraudulent will also be directly disqualified from profiting, ensuring that illegal activities cannot benefit from it.
In the interview, Schusser shed more light on Apple’s strategy. He described this as a “zero-sum game”: every penny earned by fraudsters is taken away from the real creators. Therefore, increasing the intensity of punishment is a necessary and effective means. He pointed out that Apple “removed billions of manipulated streaming content in 2025 alone,” showing the scale of the fraud and reflecting Apple’s investment in supervision. He admitted that the entire industry faces the same problem, and other platforms such as Spotify are also affected by it, but Apple has a more powerful monitoring and review system, so it can deal with these behaviors more actively. Schusser described the anti-fraud war as “like a game of whack-a-mole” because fraud techniques are constantly changing and updating, and platforms must continue to invest resources to keep up. He also emphasized that the penalty mechanism introduced by Apple in 2022 is indeed effective and has resulted in a significant decrease in fraud.
For Apple, anti-fraud is not just a technical issue, but core to the platform’s positioning. Schusser said that Apple Music’s goal has always been to create a high-quality music platform, and the quality comes not only from the music itself, but also from a fair ecosystem. “We don’t like cheating, and we like to reward people who don’t cheat,” he said. Apple hopes that through stricter regulations, real creators can get the exposure and income they deserve, instead of being overwhelmed by a large number of fake plays.
As AI and automated tools become more prevalent, streaming fraud techniques will only become more sophisticated, and anti-fraud capabilities between platforms will become part of the competition. Apple’s substantial increase in penalties this time undoubtedly sends a clear signal to the industry: streaming fraud is no longer just a “gray area”, but a violation that will have real costs. In the future, it will take time to verify whether these measures can further improve the ecology of the music industry, but at least it is certain that Apple is ready to continue investing in this long-term battle and maintain the fairness and credibility of the platform with a stronger attitude.
Source: KOCPC Chinese