Sony Music has asked digital platforms to remove more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks impersonating artists on its roster, highlighting the growing challenge posed by unauthorised music created with artificial intelligence.
The figure, recorded by the end of September, is nearly twice the more than 135,000 removal requests made by the company by the end of March, according to a Financial Times report published October 5.
The affected artists include Harry Styles, Adele, Britney Spears, Queen and Michael Jackson, with Sony describing the material as generative AI deepfake tracks that copy artists’ voices and likenesses without permission.
“We will keep enforcing our artists’ rights and expect platforms to act quickly and to prevent the same content from reappearing,” Sony told the Financial Times. “But it’s becoming an uphill struggle.”
Sony said the unauthorised tracks are “happening at scale, harms artists, misleads fans and undermines the ethical use of AI.”
The company’s latest figure means it submitted more than 125,000 additional takedown requests between April and September, compared with the total it had reported by March.
However, the number of tracks that platforms have actually removed, the time taken to process the requests and the platforms that received them were not disclosed in the report.
Sony has been tracking the problem for several years. In November 2023, Dennis Kooker, President of Global Digital Business & US Sales at Sony Music Entertainment, said the company had sent “close to 10,000 takedowns to a variety of platforms hosting unauthorized deepfakes that SME artists asked us to take down.”
By March 2025, Sony had requested more than 75,000 takedowns, according to a submission by the company to a UK government consultation on AI and copyright law.
The number rose to more than 135,000 by March 2026, when Sony said it had asked streaming platforms to remove the tracks.
“The problem with deepfakes are they are a demand-driven event,” Kooker said in March, according to the BBC. “They are taking advantage of the fact an artist is out there promoting their music.”
The issue extends beyond voice imitation. Streaming platforms are also dealing with AI-generated music being produced in large quantities and promoted through artificial streams, allowing users to generate royalties through repeated plays.
Kooker said in May that fraudulent streams could account for between 5% and 10% of streams, although he acknowledged that “no one knows exactly.”
Label executives have estimated that streaming fraud could cost the music industry as much as $2.2 billion annually.
Deezer reported in July that it received an average of nearly 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day in June, with such music accounting for more than half of new music delivered to the platform on peak days.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, former CEO of UK Music, described the development as a growing threat to the music business.
“AI streaming fraud is fast becoming an epidemic for the music industry, and the exponential growth should alarm everyone,” he said.
Spotify has also introduced measures aimed at addressing artist impersonation and incorrectly delivered music. Its impersonation policy states that vocal impersonation is only permitted when the artist being impersonated has authorised the use.
In March 2026, Spotify began piloting Artist Profile Protection, allowing participating artists to identify releases incorrectly delivered to their profiles and remove themselves from such releases.
The wider debate has also reached legislation in the United States. The proposed NO FAKES Act would establish a federal right covering a person’s voice and visual likeness, while requiring platforms to remove flagged digital replicas “as soon as is technologically and practically feasible” to retain safe-harbour protection.
The bill, which Sony supports, cleared the US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously on June 18.
As AI-generated music continues to increase, Sony’s latest takedown figure shows the scale of the challenge facing rights holders as they attempt to protect artists from unauthorised voice imitation, fraudulent distribution and other forms of misuse.
Ademide Adebayo
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