All three major record labels, publishers Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt, Concord and streaming services Spotify, Deezer and Amazon are among the 24 companies and trade bodies backing the global campaign.
The code specifically targets against "industrial scale" impersonation of genuine music streaming listening by automated processes, inauthentic accounts, or human 'pay-for-play' 'troll farm’ methods. Last year, Norwegian collection society Tono filed an official police complaint against Tidal, following allegations denied by the streaming service that it deliberately faked its play counts.
"In addition to economic damage, it also hurts artists by providing them with potentially misleading and artificial data and leaving them to either compete with artificially inflated stream counts or to consider engaging in these costly, unethical, and improper practices themselves," it goes on to state.