How to report a fake AI artist or AI impersonation on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and your distributor

It costs nothing to report a fake. On Spotify, file the content mismatch form in Spotify for Artists. On YouTube, use the impersonation form for a fake channel and a privacy complaint for an AI copy of your face or voice. On Apple Music, use Contact Us in Apple Music for Artists. Then tell your distributor, because each fix only applies on one platform.

Steps are from each platform's help pages as read on 29 Oct 2026. This is a practical guide, not legal advice.

First, which problem do you have?

• A release under your name that isn't yours. Someone delivered a track (often AI-generated) credited to your artist name, so it lands on your profile. This is a metadata problem, and the stores call it a "mismatch" or "artist mapping issue".
• A channel or profile pretending to be you. A separate page using your name, photo or a near-miss spelling.
• An AI copy of your face or voice. A video or track that sounds or looks like you, wherever it sits.

Take screenshots and copy every link before you report. Fakes get renamed or deleted, and you want the record either way.

Spotify

Spotify's help page gives one route for music on your profile that isn't yours:

1. Log in to Spotify for Artists. If you don't have access yet, request it at artists.spotify.com/claim.
2. Fill out the content mismatch form (artists.spotify.com/c/content-mismatch) with the link to the wrong release.
3. Wait for the email. Spotify says it emails you when it is fixed, "usually within a few days". If the form doesn't work, contact Spotify support.

You can also report releases before they go live, from your unreleased content. Fans who spot a fake should use Spotify Customer Service instead; the form is for artist teams.

If you're in the Artist Profile Protection beta, you can remove yourself from a release under Music > Review up to 28 days after it goes live. Our setup guide covers the Review and Block modes.

Apple Music

We could not find an Apple help article for this, so this route is from distributors' help pages, not Apple's own. Record Union says to submit a report at artists.apple.com/contact-us, choose Artist Catalog Issues, and give your artist name, links to all your albums, and the link to your correct artist page. Add the link to the fake release and say plainly that it is not yours. Check the topic wording when you log in, since Apple can rename it.

YouTube

YouTube splits this into two policies.

• A fake channel. The impersonation policy covers "deceptively copying the branding, content, or usernames" of others, including adding "Official" to your name or copying your profile picture. It also counts using AI to copy someone's voice or likeness so a channel looks like theirs. Report it with the impersonation contact form linked from that page.
• An AI copy of your face or voice. File a removal request under the privacy guidelines. They cover content that "looks or sounds like you, but was significantly edited or generated by AI", including simulated audio of you saying something you didn't. YouTube weighs whether it is disclosed as AI, whether you are uniquely identifiable, and whether it is parody or satire. It generally accepts complaints only from the person affected, with exceptions such as a legal representative, so a manager can't file for a band member.

YouTube may give the uploader time to remove or edit the video first, and closes the complaint if they do. Enrolled creators can also get matches surfaced through likeness detection, which is face-only for now.

Your distributor

Tell your distributor even if the store has already fixed it, and ask whether it can deliver your releases with your store artist IDs so they map to the right page. Spotify says its listed preferred providers can deliver with a specified artist ID to help prevent mix-ups.

Two help pages show the range:

• Ditto lets you set your Spotify Artist ID yourself under Artist > Edit your Artist Profile, with no ticket, and says it usually takes several days. It points to a separate article for someone else's music on your profile (Ditto).
• Record Union lists a route per store, including Amazon Music for Artists (Help > Report Issue > My artist profile has incorrect content, allow up to four weeks), Deezer for Creators' support form, and an email for Pandora with the UPC of each release (Record Union).

The fake usually came from a different distributor than yours. Your store report is what removes it from your page; your distributor fixes your side.

For leaks and stolen uploads of your real recordings, the routes are different; see our takedown guide.

Checklist

• Screenshots and links saved for every fake.
• Spotify content mismatch form sent (and Review queue checked if you have Profile Protection).
• Apple Music for Artists Contact Us request sent.
• YouTube impersonation form or privacy complaint filed, by the person affected.
• Amazon, Deezer and others reported through their artist apps.
• Distributor told, and asked to deliver with your artist IDs.
• A log kept: date, platform, ticket number, outcome.

What we think

Every route is free, but none is shared. A fake AI artist can reach six stores with one upload; removing it takes six separate reports, each with its own form and wait, and Apple doesn't publish its own steps. That is the imbalance we described in Sony's 260,000 deepfake takedowns: labels have staff for this, indies have an evening.

Our advice is to treat your artist IDs like a password. Claim every artist profile you can, give your distributor the IDs, and check your profiles after anyone else's release day as well as your own. The fastest fix is the fake that never gets mapped to you. And the stores could stop it at the source: a release under an existing artist name could need that artist's approval before going live, which is what Spotify's Block mode already does for a few. That should be the default.