Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Thursday edition - 2 min read

One Fraudster Down, A Million More to Go

What’s Up

Michael Smith, that guy who used AI to generate billions of fake streams and cash out, just pled guilty to wire fraud. Crime doesn’t pay, but he’s got to. He’s paying back $8.1M, to be exact, and could face up to five years in the slammer. Ouch.

So What

This isn’t really about him though. The bigger story is who caught… and who didn’t. Pandora, Deezer, and yes, Spotify flagged it fast. Apple Music, Boomplay, Tidal, Amazon Music, and YouTube all went radio silent.

Deezer says that 85% of AI gen music on their platform is fraudulent. And that’s why we can’t have nice things.

Now What

It doesn’t look like AI fraud is slowing down anytime soon, so pay attention to where your music lives. Platforms with real fraud detection matter. You don’t want frauds like Smith to be collecting from the same royalty pool as you.

[Full story at DMN]

A Music Discovery Tool for Nobodies

What’s Up

“Streaming is easy.”

Yeah… people actually say that crap. Quick reality check: 87% of artists on streaming platforms have fewer than 1,000 monthly listeners. And it’s not because the music is bad (okay, maybe a few); it’s because the algorithms push what’s already popular. If only there were an app that ranks by uniqueness. Oh, wait, there is. It’s called BlackTape.

So What

BlackTape pulls songs from MusicBrainz and ranks how niche they are. The more underground, the better.

Yep, this isn’t for the NPC who only listens to what’s popular on TikTok. [clears throat, proper British accent] This is for the musical connoisseur.

Alright, jokes aside. It’s also a good way for you to get inspiration (or samples) if you’re looking for that.

Now What

Download it at blacktape.org. It’s free and open-source. The cool thing is, you can search for your genre and see who’s in your lane.

[Full story at Hypebot]

“Link In Bio” Is On Its Way Out

What’s Up

Link in bio? No, no, no. How about “link in caption"? Instagram is testing out clickable links directly in post captions.

So What

Ever heard of CTR? For the uninitiated, that’s click-through rate. Don’t worry if you didn’t know that; Meta’s just figuring it out too. Every extra click loses people. Post → bio → link. See how long that takes compared to a swipe up? A clickable caption link would entirely cut out that friction. This is a great tool for indies. This could mean more streams, more sales, and actual conversions.

Now What

One caveat: it's limited to Meta Verified users right now, with a cap of 10 linked posts per month. But don’t worry if you’re not verified; features like this don’t stay locked up forever.

[Read more on Music Ally]