Hacked and back

Abdul Hannan recovers streaming accounts

Musician Abdul Hannan has just waded through a tech scare. On Monday, the singer's team posted that Hannan's streaming accounts had been hijacked, although they added that the issue has been resolved as of Wednesday.

Taking to Instagram Stories to spread the word amongst the Iraaday singer's followers, an initial statement from the singer's team read, "Hannan's streaming accounts, like Spotify/Apple Music, are currently being misused, with fake or AI-generated music being uploaded. Scammers are attempting to profit from unauthorised streams, affecting many artists. We're aware of the issue and are working to resolve it quickly."

As a reminder, the team urged followers to exercise caution and to discount all music unless it was coming directly from Hannan's official Instagram handle

"Please do not stream these unauthorised songs," continued to statement. "Any new music from Hannan will be announced on his official Instagram account. This is also an appeal to streaming services like Spotify to address this issue promptly."

In a gratifying follow-up, Hannan's team sent another note on Instagram Stories when the hacking scare had been resolved. "It's fixed guys, thank you for your support and understanding," read the latest statement.

Hannan's latest hiccup underscores how the work of creative artists is at risk of being overtaken or disseminated by artificial intelligence without their permission and with revenue being siphoned off. As per Pitchfork, artists face the possibility of impersonators uploading fake music to their official profiles, with stolen music being uploaded under false monikers. According to the publication, big names such as Beyoncé and Rihanna have been affected by scams whereby their music had been uploaded illegally to streaming platforms. In addition to uploading music without permission, scams generally involve fake playlists or fake profiles designed to manipulate plays and generate venue. Due to the massive scale of streaming platforms, scams continue to persist despite measures taken to combat them.