March 9, 2020

IFPI, representing the recording industry worldwide, and its German national group BVMI announced that the Berlin District Court has issued an injunction against the operator of Followerschmiede.de, a prominent stream manipulation site.

IFPI explains that the injunction orders the Germany-based Followerschmiede.de, which creates “plays” on a digital service provider that do not represent the actual consumption of music by a genuine consumer, to discontinue that activity.

IFPI says that this action is the latest development in the global recording industry’s ongoing strategy to tackle the issue of stream manipulation as it continues to invest in and enable the development of the legitimate digital music market around the world. Last year IFPI and its member companies and national groups, including BVMI, joined a broad industry coalition in signing a voluntary code of best practice aiming to detect and prevent stream manipulation as well as mitigate its effects in the marketplace.

Frances Moore, Chief Executive of IFPI, said: “Those who create music must be remunerated fairly and accurately for their work and investment. Stream manipulation undermines this – whether by undermining the accuracy of charts, royalty payments to music creators or otherwise – and cannot be tolerated. Streaming platforms need to find a robust technical solution to this issue. For our part, we are prepared to take legal action against these sites, as shown by this action in Germany, and we will continue to do so wherever necessary worldwide.”

Dr Florian Drücke, Chairman & CEO of BVMI, said: “We took this action as part of our commitment to protect the legitimate legal market for music and to hinder any fraudulent services seeking to undermine it. This should be seen as a signal to other manipulation services that we are prepared to take action against them.” To read IFPI’s statement in full, click here.