Anti-Fraud Policy

Effective date: July 2025

Identity Music stands firmly against all forms of fraud, misrepresentation and infringement in the music industry. Through thorough vetting processes at all stages of the distribution process (pre-agreement, pre-distribution and post-distribution), we take pride in doing everything in our power to ensure that only content that meets our stringent criteria is delivered to, kept live on, and earns money from DSPs.


This Anti-Fraud Policy outlines our stance on fraudulent and illegitimate behaviour, our processes for detecting such activity, and the consequences of committing fraudulent activity while distributing content with Identity Music Ltd.


Fraudulent Activity


Our Anti-Fraud Policy applies to any actual or predicted fraudulent behaviour that results in copyright infringement, illegitimate earnings, or misrepresentation of identity or content. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Attempting to distribute content that infringes on a third party’s copyright, including using samples or beats without appropriate licenses and/or permissions from the relevant rights holders;
  • Using misleading or deceptive artist, band or label names to mislead listeners and/or service providers;
  • Attempting to distribute content that contains deceptive features, including, but not limited to, distorted sounds and silenced tracks;
  • The use of automated or digital bots to artificially ‘click’ on payment-generating links to generate illegitimate revenue;
  • The use of automated or digital bots to artificially stream music on DSPs to generate illegitimate revenue;
  • Any breach of a DSP’s own Terms of Service or Identity Music Ltd’s Terms of Service.

Detecting & Preventing Fraudulent Activity


Identity Music Ltd relies on comprehensive Quality Assurance processes and third party data, including that provided by DSPs themselves, to identify, assess and combat fraudulent activity.


Prior To Offering A Distribution Agreement


Our A&R Team follow an in-depth Know Your Client (KYC) process to vet all potential Identity Music Ltd clients. The process includes but is not limited to:

  • Validating an applicant’s identity, through ID verification or other means;
  • Using third-party tools to assess music content for copyright infringement or AI usage;
  • Assessing streaming data and trends to identify potential artificial streaming violations.

Only applicants who satisfy our A&R KYC processes will be offered a distribution agreement with Identity Music Ltd.


Prior To Music Distribution


Our internal Quality Assurance process is conducted prior to distribution of content uploaded to our Master’s Dashboard by clients and includes but is not limited to:

  • Reviewing client-provided metadata to ensure it conforms to best practices and complies with DSP requirements;
  • Listening to audio files to identify low quality or extended periods of silence;
  • Using third-party software to review audio files to identify undisclosed use of samples, beats, lyrics, or other matches to copyrighted material;
  • Ensuring only content uploaded to accounts that have an active distribution agreement with Identity Music Ltd (and have therefore been approved by the A&R team) is distributed to platforms;
  • Removing Rights Management platforms from distribution where content does not meet platform licensing requirements.

Any content that does not meet our Quality Assurance standards will be returned to the client to rectify prior to distribution. We withhold the right to refuse distribution of any content that does not meet our standards.


After the Distribution of Music


After the distribution of music to platforms, Identity Music Ltd monitors content to ensure that it remains compliant with our Quality Assurance standards and the requirements of DSPs.

Fraudulent activity may be identified through:

  • The receipt of a copyright infringement notice from a third party;
  • Streaming data provided by DSPs;
  • Receipt of on-platform copyright notices or strikes;
  • Seeing suspicious downloads or streaming patterns in DSP data.

The Consequences of Fraudulent Activity


If fraudulent activity is detected by any means the consequences of that activity remain at Identity Music’s sole discretion.


Identity Music Ltd is committed to growing awareness of fraudulent activity. While we do our best to notify Artists or Labels of any suspicious activity in their streaming data as early as possible and resolve issues without takedowns, this is not always possible.


In any case where Identity Music Ltd, a streaming service, music industry body, or other governing body detects, identifies or predicts fraudulent activity of any kind in assets owned or distributed by a client of Identity Music Ltd, the consequences remain at the sole discretion of Identity Music Ltd. We reserve the right to take any action deemed appropriate by Identity Music Ltd, including but not limited to immediate takedowns, termination of distribution agreements, and disclosing details of the fraudulent activity to relevant third-parties.


In cases where a large volume of artificial streaming has been detected, Identity Music Ltd reserves the right to issue immediate takedowns of all assets from all DSPs and to terminate a client’s distribution agreement.


Artificial Streaming Offences


In the case of receiving Artificial Streaming data from DSPs, Identity Music Ltd may take actions that include but are not limited to:

  • Issue of written notification to artists and/or labels, alerting them to the presence of Artificial Streaming on their releases;
  • Issue of a formal written warning to artists and/or labels, highlighting the consequences of reoffence;
  • Temporary withholding (up to 5 years to allow for legal claims by DSPs or rights holders to be fully processed) of earned revenue from fraudulent streaming;
  • Issue of monetary fines applied to a user’s distribution account;
  • Immediate and irreversible distribution account and contract termination.

Copyright Offences


In the case of copyright infringement being identified prior to distribution of content, Identity Music Ltd may:

  • Request additional copyright information to assess the user’s rights to distribute the identified content;
  • Deny distribution to Rights Management platforms and/or other DSPs if an Artist or Label is unable to provide evidence of full rights being held to that identified content;
  • Refuse distribution to any platforms;
  • Immediately and irreversibly terminate a user’s distribution account and contract.

In the case of Identity Music Ltd being notified of a copyright infringement after the distribution of content, Identity Music Ltd will conduct an investigation into the legitimacy of the copyright claim. If it is found that content distributed by Identity Music Ltd does infringe on another party’s copyright, consequences may include but are not limited to:

  • The immediate takedown of offending content from all DSPs;
  • Temporary withholding (up to 5 years to allow for legal claims by DSPs or rights holders to be fully processed) of earned revenue from fraudulent activity;
  • Issue of monetary fines applied to a user’s distribution account;
  • Immediate and irreversible distribution account and contract termination.