Groovian is heading to Amsterdam Dance Event with The Chorus
Groovian is one of eight startups in The Chorus at ADE 2026. Mentors include Scott Cohen, Hazel Savage, Amanda Schupf, and Linnea Sundberg.
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Notes on music fraud and streaming abuse.
What Pete Callaghan, Founder of Groovian, is seeing from the distributor side: fake streams, catalogue hopping, copyright games, and the patterns that give bad actors away.
Pete Callaghan Founder of Groovian
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Why music distributors keep catching the same fraud
Each distributor builds its own ban list. The same bad actors show up at the next door. Shared screening is how that stops.
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Why music distributors still fight fraud alone
Labels, distributors, and DSPs keep catching the same fake streams in isolation. The high street already shares those warnings. Music still doesn't.
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How fake streams steal music streaming royalties
Spotify's pro-rata pool turns every fake stream into a withdrawal from real artists. AI mass uploads and bot farms make that theft harder to see.
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Why fraud accounts keep switching music distributors
After a takedown, bad actors move the catalogue and start clean. Why those hops are a fraud signal, and why flags have to follow the account.
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How streaming fraud rings actually work
Stolen audio, cloned names, bot farms, then a new distributor. The pattern behind royalty theft, and why catching one upload never ends it.
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How easy it is to fake a music copyright claim
Anyone can email a DSP and trigger a takedown. A real Apple Music claim with matching names, a bouncing inbox, and no fingerprint match.
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Streaming fraud is a $2B industry, and the tactics keep spreading
Twenty ways bad actors game streaming platforms, from fake streams to soundalike songs, and five things music distributors can do about it.
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Soundalike songs that steal the royalties
Producers are rebuilding hits note for note and registering them as originals. Why soundalike songs take cover song royalties, and how to mark a cover.
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How to spot fake streams and music fraud at intake
Behavioural tells I see before a release ships: rushed reviews, ISRC fresh starts, ghost artists, and catalogue hops between music distributors.
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