An interesting offshoot of digital identity verification is emerging in the protection of digital music assets. White-label music distribution platform SonoSuite, which is headquartered in Barcelona, has enlisted Estonia’s Veriff to provide identity verification. In a post on Veriff’s blog, Sebastián Mañana, CEO of SonoSuite says that, “malicious actors are becoming more sophisticated, causing friction and undermining credibility along the customer journey.” The IDV partnership will aim to address unauthorized music distribution, fake streaming and fraudulent royalties.

An article in Music Connection digs into a project to “authenticate the digital identity of the entire global music community.” Shufti Pro is on board to provide identity verification tools undergirding “a trusted ecosystem of verified artists, creators, industry professionals, organizations, businesses, and brands under the .MUSIC top-level domain.” The project has been years in the making as its initiator, a musician and entrepreneur named Constantine Roussos, worked to secure exclusive rights to the domain. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) eventually awarded them to Roussos under his company, dotMUSIC Limited.

Now, “for the first time in the Internet age, the global music community and industry will be able to register their .MUSIC names in a trusted, secure, and safe manner without the fear of impersonators, cybersquatters, or AI bots.” It aims to streamline royalty collection and licensing for permissions to use name, image, likeness and voice (NILV). Major names in the music industry to register .MUSIC domains include artists like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, streamers such as Spotify and Soundcloud, and social platforms including Meta, Facebook and Instagram.