Manatt’s Jordan Bromley, leader of the firm’s entertainment transactions and finance group, spoke to the Financial Times about the rising trend of fake streams on music platforms.
Stream manipulation happens when online bots posing as human listeners inflate listening figures for certain tracks to earn higher chart placings and royalty payments. Over 20 technology groups, record labels and music publishers compiled a “code of best practices” to combat the issue.
“They don’t have the data at their disposal to know how many streams have been purchased, or what that dollar amount equates to,” Bromley said. “And then in order to get the actual damages, you would need to get all the artists on board as plaintiffs.”
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