Global music body the IFPI is continuing its battle against ‘streaming manipulation’ services. Together with German body BVMI, it has secured court injunctions against the operators of five websites promising to inflate artists’ streaming counts artificially.
The sites are Socialnow·de, Socialgeiz·de, Likergeiz·de, Netlikes and Likesandmore, with a sixth site (Fanexplosion·de) having already removed the relevant service in response to a cease and desist letter.
“Streaming manipulation companies deprive right holders of revenue and mislead consumers. We are committed to tackling this problem,” said IFPI CEO Frances Moore.
Germany has been a key focus so far for this fight against streaming manipulation: earlier this year, the IFPI and BVMI won another court order, against the Followerschmiede·de website, for the same reason.
A range of music bodies and streaming services launched an ‘Anti-Stream Manipulation Code of Best Practice’ in June 2019 promising to tackle services from bots and click-farms to ‘pay-for-play’ deals.
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