Alan Parsons – the iconic producer and engineer whose early career included work on Abbey Road and Let It Be – has issued a blistering warning after discovering that fraudsters have been releasing music under his name.
Parsons revealed that he had become a victim of the growing wave of artist impersonation scams, a trend plaguing streaming platforms as opportunists upload their own material or AI-generated tracks and pass them off as the work of established musicians.
In some cases, scammers even tag well-known artists as ‘collaborators’ to force their way onto high-traffic profile pages and algorithmic playlists.
Parsons said he was stunned to learn that bogus songs were circulating under his identity.
He wrote: ‘It has come to my attention that a few clever and unscrupulous scammers have been posting music online while pretending to be me.’
‘They’ve been gathering up streams, attention, and possibly even invitations to tea under my name… These blatant infringements have nothing whatsoever to do with me.’
The producer didn’t hold back, skewering both the impersonators and the systems enabling them: ‘Let me be crystal clear – I have not released these songs, authorised these songs, hummed these songs, or even accidentally sat on a keyboard and come up with anything resembling these songs,’ he said.
‘What a strange time we live in, when an imposter can write a tune, or have a toaster write it for him, slap my name on it as the artist, and then have a faceless algorithm give it life.’
Parsons added that while the creativity of scammers might be ‘efficient,’ their tactics are eroding the integrity musicians spend years building.
‘This tomfoolery doesn’t just confuse listeners, it dilutes the talent of those artists, muddles their identity, and chips away at the integrity that takes years, or in my case, decades, to build. I spent most of my life finding my voice in the music industry, and I’d like to keep it human, thank you very much.’
Calling on fans to stay vigilant, Parsons urged listeners to ‘double-check the source’ of any newly surfaced music and support ‘real, walking, talking, crumpet-eating artists. We are still here. Slightly wrinkled, perhaps, but gloriously human.’
His experience joins a long list of artists who have found themselves unexpectedly sharing digital space with impostors.
Toto, Yes, Architects, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Uncle Tupelo, Swans and Asia have all been targeted, while several late musicians – including Blaze Foley and Guy Clark – have had posthumous ‘releases’ appear on their pages without any legitimate origin.
Streaming platforms have begun responding to the escalating issue. Spotify revealed earlier this year that it had removed 75 million ‘spammy’ tracks over a 12-month period.
‘Because music flows through a complex supply chain, bad actors sometimes exploit gaps to push incorrect content onto artist profiles,’ a spokesperson told NPR. The platform has since introduced a tool allowing artists to flag suspicious tracks before they become public.
Still, as Parsons’ case shows, the fight against musical identity theft is far from over.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.