D4vd’s Apple Music page has reportedly been hacked for murder

Fake tracks are exploiting a loophole in the way audio files are uploaded to streaming services.

Distributors are required to provide metadata for each song, which allows a bad actor to submit music using an existing artist name or very similar spelling.

Since the process is mostly automated, fake tracks remain online until the rights holder spots them and alerts the platform.

Earlier this year, Sony Music told the BBC that more than 135,000 songs were being streamed impersonating its artists and asking people to remove them.

Spotify acknowledged the problem and announced last September that it had removed more than 75 million “spam tracks” over the past 12 months.

In response, it launched a tool called Artist Profile Protection in March that allows certain musicians to review any new additions before they’re added to their site.

However, another fake D4vd song, titled Marchesance, was added to the star’s Spotify profile on July 18. He stayed for eight hours before leaving.