FUGA vs LANDR: Protecting Your Music from Fake Streaming in 2025

In today’s music industry, streaming platforms have become the main way fans discover and consume music. While this has opened up new opportunities for independent artists and labels, it has also given rise to a growing problem: artificial or “fake” streaming. Bot-driven streams and click farms skew play counts, siphon royalties away from legitimate creators and trigger unjust penalties for artists whose popularity legitimately spikes. With AI-generated tracks flooding digital service providers (DSPs) and fraudsters exploiting royalty models, understanding how to protect your catalogue from fake streams is more important than ever.

What Is FUGA?

FUGA is a business‑to‑business music distribution platform that sits at the heart of your catalogue. The platform is built on technical excellence, offering complete control over digital distribution, catalog management and analytics. FUGA delivers your music to a truly global network of more than 260 DSPs and holds preferred partner status at the industry’s major services, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube Music (Music Distribution). With a custom‑branded interface, labels and rightsholders can manage releases, schedule deliveries and track audience engagement from a single dashboard. Whether you run a boutique indie label or a major global catalogue, FUGA adapts to your scale and empowers you to maximize your revenue potential.

Beyond distribution, FUGA offers tools for royalty reporting, marketing support and audience insights. Its partnership with platforms like Single enables artists to deliver music directly to their ecommerce storefronts, bridging the gap between streaming and direct sales. By centralizing release planning, rights management and analytics, FUGA provides a professional‑grade distribution solution that has become the backbone of many independent music companies.

The Growing Threat of Fake Streaming

Artificial streaming refers to the manipulation of stream counts through bots, incentivized listening groups or other automated systems. This violates the terms of DSPs and platform policies; deliberate engagement with artificial streaming can lead to takedowns, penalties or termination of services (Understanding Artificial Streaming and Its Risks to the …). In 2025 the issue has reached crisis levels. Reports indicate that AI‑generated tracks make up a small but rapidly growing share of uploads, with platforms like Deezer estimating that up to 70 % of streams of these tracks are fraudulent and using bots to extract royalties (FUGA vs. LANDR Comparison). Industry investigations have revealed hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent payouts, and major platforms have removed tens of millions of spam tracks in the past year to combat the problem (FUGA vs. LANDR Comparison). This wave of fake streams erodes trust in the streaming ecosystem and can unfairly penalize legitimate artists whose songs suddenly go viral or get featured on popular playlists.

How FUGA Helps Detect and Prevent Fake Streaming

Distributors and DSPs deploy detection systems to identify artificial streaming patterns. FUGA works closely with its DSP partners to monitor data signals that indicate suspicious activity. According to FUGA’s own guidance, labels and partners should practise due diligence by reviewing audience metrics, spotting unusual spikes and avoiding services that promise guaranteed playlist placements or streams (Understanding Artificial Streaming and Its Risks to the …). Artificial streaming may violate FUGA’s platform policies and contractual agreements, and the company warns that deliberate engagement could result in takedowns or withholding of royalties. By integrating with detection systems and enforcing strict compliance, FUGA helps protect its clients from the reputational and financial risks of streaming fraud.

FUGA also encourages best practices such as ensuring metadata accuracy, using unique ISRC codes and monitoring release performance across DSPs. These steps make it easier to identify discrepancies and trace fraudulent activity. Because FUGA provides comprehensive analytics, labels can quickly see when a track’s performance deviates from expected patterns and work with the platform to investigate anomalies.

FUGA vs LANDR

LANDR began as an AI‑powered mastering service and later expanded into self‑service distribution for independent artists. The platform makes it easy for creators to release music to major DSPs and provides extras like creative tools and sample libraries. However, LANDR’s distribution is built for individual musicians rather than labels; its rights management is more limited, and it often partners with FUGA to administer content ID claims and manage royalties (What is FUGA and why is it claiming the use of my tracks in …). In contrast, FUGA is a white‑label distribution platform designed for record labels, distributors and rights holders that need scalable catalog management and deep integration with DSPs. When choosing between the two, consider your business model: artists seeking a simple, direct‑to‑DSP solution may find LANDR convenient, while labels and distributors managing multiple releases will benefit from FUGA’s customizable infrastructure and analytics.

Best Practices to Protect Your Music from Fake Streams

Protecting your catalog from artificial streaming requires vigilance and adherence to best practices:

• Avoid “streaming promotion” services that guarantee plays. Legitimate marketing campaigns drive real fan engagement, while services that promise a specific number of streams often rely on bots or click farms. Participating in such schemes can lead to takedowns and frozen royalties.

• Monitor your analytics. Keep an eye on daily and weekly listener metrics across DSPs. Sudden, unexplained spikes—especially from regions outside your usual audience—can signal fraudulent activity.

• Curate your own playlists and pitch to trusted curators. Build relationships with reputable playlist editors rather than paying for placements on unknown lists with suspicious follower ratios.

• Maintain accurate metadata. Ensure that your track titles, artist names, ISRC codes and release dates are correct. Accurate metadata helps distributors and DSPs detect anomalies and ensures that streams are correctly attributed.

• Educate your team and artists. Make sure everyone involved in your releases understands the risks of artificial streaming and the importance of organic growth.

By following these guidelines, you reduce the risk of becoming entangled in streaming fraud and protect your income and reputation.

Conclusion

Streaming has democratized music distribution, but it has also given rise to fraudulent practices that threaten the livelihoods of independent artists and labels. Platforms like FUGA provide professional‑grade tools to distribute music globally, manage catalogs and track performance. They also play an important role in combating fake streams by integrating with DSP detection systems and enforcing policies that penalize artificial activity. When evaluating distribution options, consider whether you need the scalability and control that FUGA offers or the simplicity of a self‑service platform like LANDR. Regardless of your choice, staying informed about streaming fraud and adopting best practices will help you build a sustainable music career in 2025 and beyond.