Music is one of the most integral parts of human culture. No matter where you are in the world, music can be heard playing. Unfortunately, it seems that the music industry is becoming more and more vulnerable to fraudulent activities with each passing year.

The artists of today are creating some of their best music ever, they aren’t seeing nearly as much profit as they should be. The reason for this is that there are many frauds and scams on the side of the industry that make money off of this and people are trying to take action against this.

By monitoring domains for suspicious activity. domain monitoring services can help identify if a brand is having its information duplicated and having criminals impersonate them, thus easily tricking an unsuspecting user to believe it is the brand they trust.

In the case of the music industry, a clever cybercriminal could easily find a way to impersonate a trusted music streaming website or a website of an online ticket service that distributes music concert tickets or even that of a music artists’ website.

There are many different kinds of fraud that these companies currently engage like music piracy, illegal downloads, and streaming services. These illegal activities are what is hurting the industry the most in 2022.

The music industry was worth an estimated $5.6 billion in 2020 to a whopping $7.1bn between 2021 and 2022 at retail value. With the rise in recorded music revenues, overall retail value has grown by 25% from $7.1 billion last year to this one. The music industry was more profitable before these illegal websites came into play.

Fraud Types Affecting the Music Industry Today

1. Copyright infringement

Copyright infringement is one of the biggest issues in music right now. Most people know that downloading music illegally is wrong, however many of them do not think twice about continuing to do it.

Pirating, which is another word for illegally downloading or streaming music online, costs the industry billions of dollars each year. People are constantly illegally downloading music and not paying at all for it.

The cost of digital video piracy is significant, with estimates ranging from $29.2-$71 billion each year for the US economy and annual global losses upwards to $97+B in movie industry revenue due to illegal downloading habits that account for 24%.

2. Identity theft

The other main issue that is hurting the music industry right now is the fact that many people are sharing or selling tickets.

When music fans go online to buy concert tickets or merchandise, they may be giving out their credit cards and personal information that could lead to identity theft. This leaves open up an opportunity for hackers.

3. Music piracy

There are many different types of piracy that the music industry is currently facing. Countless websites allow users to illegally download or stream music for free. Not only do these sites make it easier for fans to access music for free, but they also make things more difficult for the artists themselves.

4. Email scams

Many different types of scammers exist within the music industry. The most common form of scam that artists run into is email scams.

These come in the form of agents that don’t exist or managers looking for a handout from an artist they have never heard of before.

5. Ransomware

Ransomware is another issue that is plaguing the industry right now. Many hackers are taking over computers and servers to steal information to make money.

The information they are stealing ranges from personal pieces of information about artists, their social security numbers, bank account numbers, etc.

This puts the artists at risk because if someone were able to steal their identity, they would be putting themselves and everyone they care about in a pretty big amount of danger.

6. Data Breaches

Another issue that the music industry has to deal with is data breaches. It is incredibly easy for hackers to gain access to information from companies, even those who have information as sensitive as a musician’s.

If a hacker gets access to this information, they have the potential to run away with all sorts of important information from artists.

7. Welfare fraud

The final fraud that is damaging to the music industry in 2022 is welfare fraud. For an artist to be successful, they have to work extremely hard, often sacrificing a lot of their time.

Many times, some people take advantage of the system and claim that an artist is earning a certain amount of money to continue receiving benefits from the government. If everyone would stop doing this, artists might get paid for their work more often.

Conclusion

The music industry is not immune to fraud occurring, whether you are a musician, an artist manager or the head of your label’s marketing team, you must be aware of these common scams when approaching new opportunities with potential partners to avoid being taken advantage of.

With this knowledge in mind, people should be aware and keep an eye out for any activity deemed as suspicious as it’s better to be well equipped and prepared to react to suspected fraud activity than be underprepared.