Noise #124: Phantom artists, stolen songs
The newest variant of digital piracy.
The New York Times describes how Bad Dog, a folk duo from Washington, DC, randomly discovered their songs posted on streaming services—under different names and credited to different artists.
Welcome to music streaming fraud, the weird new world where hacked Spotify accounts, pirated music, bot farms, and tracks containing nothing but white noise collide.
Microscopically, Noise #124 is my reaction to Bad Dog’s stumble into the digital Twilight Zone. Zooming out, the piece also channels my feelings about our fraught and fascinating relationship with bleeding-edge technology—those innovations that are wonderfully thrilling, but that few people actually understand, and even fewer can navigate or control.
Wishing you peace,
Michael
(Noise #124 by Michael Gallant. Copyright 2024 Gallant Music LLC. All Rights Reserved. )