In a joint effort, Brazilian law enforcement authorities, in collaboration with their counterparts in Peru, recently concluded another series of actions as part of ‘Operation 404.’ This ongoing initiative, supported by IFPI and Pro-Música Brasil, aims to tackle infringing services on the internet, making it one of the largest campaigns of its kind.
Brazil is known as a streaming farm country and several sites shop fake streams in the country, allowing artists and other people ok the music industry to buy bot-generated “plays” to boost the songs’ stream counts.
Last year was the first time that Brazilian authorities had prosecuted fake streams as a crime.
“Operation 404 continues to be one of the biggest and most concerted efforts in the world against music piracy,” emphasized Melissa Morgia, IFPI’s Director of Global Content Protection and Enforcement. The operation, which focuses on unlicensed music services, has achieved significant milestones, including the suspension of nearly 1,500 domains, the removal of 780 infringing music apps, and the execution of over 100 search warrants.
Even major companies like Roc Nation’s distribution arm Equity Nation’s had fraud levels higher than 10% at one point in 2021, according to one Billboard insider.
The collaborative nature of Operation 404 is evident in the involvement of various entities, including the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security, local cybercrime police units, and the Peruvian Copyright Office, INDECOPI. This international collaboration extends to the support of Homeland Security Investigations (US) and the Police IP Crime Unit and City of London Police (UK).
Only last week Spotify confirmed that come 2024, the company will be investing heavily in detecting, preventing, and removing the royalty impact of artificial streaming.
Beginning early next year, Spotify year will also start charging labels and distributors per track when flagrant artificial streaming is detected on their content.”
In the latest wave, INDECOPI played a crucial role for the second time, working alongside Brazilian authorities to block 157 domains dedicated to music piracy, including stream ripping sites. Simultaneously, Brazilian authorities took decisive action against 12 major stream ripping and MP3 download mobile apps, collectively amassing over 4.3 million downloads in Brazil. These apps were ordered to be removed from major app stores and other platforms facilitating downloads.
A notable target in this operation was the widely used VidMate stream ripping app, boasting over 870 million downloads worldwide and over 1.1 million active users in Brazil.
Reflecting on the operation’s impact, Paulo Rosa, Director of Pro-Música Brasil, acknowledged the crucial role played by enforcement agencies from countries like the UK, US, and Peru. “The sixth wave of Operation 404 keeps tracking and fighting illegal online activities, with benefits for many sectors,” said Rosa. He emphasized the vital importance of initiatives like Operation 404 for safeguarding music content in the online environment.
