News

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

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.

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, 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, 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, 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.”

For further information please contact:
press.office@ifpi.org / +44 (0)20 7878 7979

About IFPI
IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide, representing over 8,000 record company members across the globe. We work to promote the value of recorded music, campaign for the rights of record producers and expand the commercial uses of recorded music around the world.

About BVMI
The Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI – Federal Association of the German Music Industry) represents the interests of approximately 250 labels and music companies, which account for more than 80 percent of the German music market. The Association advocates the music industry’s interests in German and European politics and serves the public as a central point of contact for the music industry.