Deezer has laid bare the scale of an AI-driven fraud problem quietly eating away at the music streaming industry — and the numbers are striking. More than 80% of all streams of AI-generated music on the French platform are fraudulent, the company revealed on Wednesday, as it posted its first ever net profit since being founded nearly two decades ago.
The scheme works like this: fraudsters use AI tools — platforms like Suno and Udio can generate a complete song from a single text prompt in seconds — to churn out thousands of tracks, upload them to streaming services, and then use bot accounts to play them on repeat. Each individual stream generates only a small royalty payment, but at scale it adds up. As Deezer chief executive Alexis Lanternier put it, they “manage to get a few euros or dollars and then by the end of the month, they make real money.” The fraud also has a secondary effect — artificially inflating play counts to game the algorithms that determine which tracks get pushed into playlists and recommendations, siphoning visibility away from legitimate artists.
The sheer volume is accelerating. Deezer detected more than 13 million AI-generated tracks on its platform in 2025, and more than 60,000 AI tracks are now being uploaded every single day — accounting for around 39% of its daily intake. While AI-generated music still represents only about 3% of total streams on the platform, 85% of those streams are classified as fraudulent. Across Deezer’s entire catalogue, fraudulent plays made up roughly 8% of all streams last year. A music industry executive told the Financial Times that songs created specifically for streaming fraud are thought to account for somewhere between 5% and 10% of content across all major streaming platforms.
When tracks are identified as fraudulent, Deezer removes them from the royalty pool shared among artists and songwriters. The company says it does not know who the fraudsters are and is focused on AI detection to distinguish illegitimate uploads from music made legitimately using AI tools.
Victoria Oakley, chief executive of music industry body IFPI, called it outright theft at the launch of the organisation’s global music report on Wednesday, saying the industry was working with law enforcement to pursue prosecutions.
On the financial side, Deezer posted revenues of €534 million for the full year — down 1.4% — but reached adjusted earnings of €10 million and net income of €9 million, its first positive bottom line since the company launched in 2007. Lanternier acknowledged the milestone was “obviously an exciting achievement, although you would say it’s a bit late.” The Paris-listed company, whose shareholders include Sir Leonard Blavatnik’s Access Industries, French telecoms group Orange and the Pinault family, counts France and Brazil as its biggest markets and operates in more than 180 countries.
