A man in Denmark, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is standing trial in Aarhus after being accused of making 4.38m kroner (£502,000) illegally from royalties on streaming sites, which is the first case of its kind. Prosecutors allege that the 53-year-old man profited from almost 700 pieces of music streamed across multiple platforms, including YouSee Musik, Spotify, and Apple Music, amongst others. It is proposed that unauthorised techniques were implemented to generate the streaming figures between 2013 and 2019, as the numbers were significant and could not have been achieved by genuine users.
The defendant has been charged with data fraud and was accused of breaching copyright law by modifying the length and speed of the songs from other artists and publishing them under his name. The man pleaded not guilty to the allegations. The prosecution is seeking a fine, a prison sentence, and the confiscation of all royalties that the defendant allegedly earned from the streaming platform scam.
The defendant’s lawyer, Henrik Garlik, told Danish broadcaster DR that he did not believe such a case has ever been brought to court. Garlik also stated that if both the verdict and the result of the case are unfavourable, he and the prosecution for the matter could appeal the decision to the higher court, and there is a potential possibility that the supreme court could get involved. The judgement in the case is expected to occur on Tuesday, February 27.
Autor, a Danish association for composers, songwriters, lyricists, and producers, released a statement, saying that this case is unique on Danish territory and globally. It has never been seen before in regards to the scale of streaming numbers. Meanwhile, Spotify continues to receive criticism about its model of paying artists and recently unveiled new streaming rates, which require 1,000 plays for songs to earn royalties, where previously it was a lower threshold
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