Germany takes down ’streaming manipulation’ site, rules it ‘liable for damages’ to record labels

A coordinated effort between the global recording industry group IFPI and its German counterpart, BVMI, has led to a legal victory, with the a German court ruling against the “streaming manipulation” service Pimpyourfollower.de.

The Düsseldorf Regional Court issued an injunction that bans the service from offering users the ability to purchase artificial plays, views, likes, and followers across major online music platforms, including SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube.

The ruling also holds the service liable for damages incurred by the record labels that initiated the lawsuit, IFPI said Friday (August 16). This marks a global first in the fight against streaming manipulation, potentially setting a precedent for similar cases worldwide.

“There is no place for streaming manipulation in the music industry. It’s a fraudulent practice and those who engage in it, or support it, should not be allowed to divert revenue away from creators or distort music fans’ experience of listening to and supporting artists,” said Victoria Oakley, CEO, IFPI.

“We continue to work on behalf of our member record labels to prevent this activity and hope that this new success in Germany sends a clear message to those who continue to offer these damaging services.”

“There is no place for streaming manipulation in the music industry. It’s a fraudulent practice and those who engage in it, or support it, should not be allowed to divert revenue away from creators or distort music fans’ experience of listening to and supporting artists.”

Victoria Oakley, IFPI

The Pimpyourfollower.de domain currently redirects to a website called Ratinghero24.de, which promises “real followers” for Instagram, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify and other platforms, in exchange for payment.

The ruling against Pimpyourfollower.de follows a series of successful legal actions taken by the music industry against streaming manipulation services in Germany. Last October, BVMI and IFPI collaborated to take down SP-Onlinepromotion.com, another German streaming manipulation service, through a successful warning letter.

Similar rulings were obtained from the Regional Courts of Darmstadt, Bremen, Hamburg, and Cologne in August 2020, following legal actions initiated by BVMI and IFPI against operators of various music manipulation services, including socialnow.de, socialgeiz.de, likergeiz.de, netlikes.de, and likesandmore.de.

Earlier, in March 2020, both organizations secured a court-ordered injunction against followerschmiede.de from the Berlin Regional Court.

Last year, IFPI and BVMI also took successful legal action against the individual hosting the stream-ripping software YouTube-DL. The Hamburg Regional Court issued an injunction mandating that the individual cease hosting the software.

“Streaming manipulation is unacceptable because it distorts competition to the detriment of artists and those who invest in them. It can also affect the reliability of the charts.”

Dr. Florian Drücke, BVMI

“Streaming manipulation is unacceptable because it distorts competition to the detriment of artists and those who invest in them. It can also affect the reliability of the charts, which are a key indicator of success for our industry and an important reference point for fans. Ultimately, it undermines the credibility of the digital market,” said Dr. Florian Drücke, Chairman & CEO, BVMI.

“The BVMI and its member labels have been successfully taking legal action against manipulation services for years in order to consistently curb distortions in the streaming business. For this reason, we recently launched our streaming anomaly detection approach (SAD) together with GfK and the Vienna University of Economics and Business as an additional element.”

The fight against manipulation is not confined to Germany. The music industry has pursued successful civil and criminal actions against manipulation services in other countries, including Canada and Brazil.

In March, a joint effort by IFPI and Music Canada led to the takedown of nine streaming fraud sites operating in Canada. Last year, IFPI and its Brazilian counterpart Pro-Música Brasil succeeded in asking Cyber Gaeco, a special cybercrime unit under the São Paulo’s prosecutor’s office, to take down FileWarez.tv, an illegal file-sharing website.

Streaming platforms are also taking steps to address the issue of streaming fraud. Platforms like Spotify have implemented new policies aimed at deterring artificial streaming. This includes investing in technology to detect and remove artificial streams, along with charging labels and distributors for “flagrant artificial streaming” detected on their content.

Deezer, another streaming service, said earlier this year it had removed 26 million tracks from its platform, including those identified as “noise,” “fake artists,” and tracks with zero plays, over the prior year.

Music Business Worldwide