Danish man on trial over alleged £500k music streaming fraud

A Danish association for composers, songwriters, lyricists and producers said the streams ‘could have been done by a computer program’ or devices ‘set to play the same songs on repeat’. Photograph: Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty Images

A Danish man has gone on trial in the city of Aarhus over accusations that he fraudulently made 4.38m kroner (more than £502,000) in royalties on music streaming sites, in what is thought to be the first such trial of its kind.

Prosecutors allege that the 53-year-old profited from streams of 689 pieces of music across services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouSee Musik. They say the huge numbers of streams required to generate that amount of money could not have been generated by genuine users and that unauthorised techniques were likely to have been deployed instead. The alleged fraud is understood to have happened between 2013 and 2019.

As well as data fraud, the defendant has also been charged with breaching copyright law by allegedly taking works from other artists, changing their length and tempo, and publishing them under his own name. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case, which was investigated by the National Unit for Special Crime, is expected to be heard over three days, with a verdict expected next Tuesday.

The defendant’s lawyer, Henrik Garlik, told the Danish broadcaster DR: “I don’t think that such a case – regarding matters which the prosecution believes to be data fraud in connection with playbacks of musical works via various tendering services – has ever been tried in court.

“Somewhat dependent on the result, there is a possibility that both my client and the prosecution will appeal the verdict to the high court. And I also do not want to deny that a case like this could reach the supreme court.”

Prosecution are reportedly seeking a fine and a prison sentence and the confiscation of the defendant’s royalties.

Anna Lidell and Lasse Matthiessen, the chair and a vice-chair of Autor, the largest Danish association for composers, songwriters, lyricists and producers, said: “This is one of a kind, not only within Danish territory but globally. The scale of streaming numbers … has not been seen before.”

Lidell and Matthiessen said that in order to generate 1m kroner, a track would need to be streamed 20m times and would have to be entirely owned by the artist, songwriter and label, which is incredibly rare.

“We don’t know for sure how the person got so many streams but it could have been done by a computer program or by having a lot of devices like cell phones that are just set to play the same songs on repeat,” they added. “We naturally hope, on behalf of both Danish and international composers and songwriters, that the case leads to a clear verdict that sets a precedent and thus protects the rights to the music that our composers and songwriters have written.”

The Danish Rights Alliance said it first reported the case in 2018 on behalf of its members. Citing the indictment, Ditte Rie Agerskov, the head of communication, said the defendant’s actions led to him “unjustly receiving royalties” on a scale “only achieved by major international stars”.

She added: “Criminals see a market in generating artificial plays that mimic organic listening patterns, in order to access royalties from music streaming services. However, artificially generated plays are in violation of the user terms found on music services like Spotify, YouSee and Tidal.”