‘We were just being ripped off’: Musicians lost thousands after AI bootleggers stole their song

Los Angeles Times ^ | June 9, 2026 3 AM PT | August Brown

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• A viral hit called “Run Run River” turned out to be an AI-tweaked clone of SoCal reggae band Stick Figure’s 2019 song, earning bootleggers thousands without credit or consent.
• The case exposes a flood of cheaply made, often fraudulent AI tracks on major streaming platforms, siphoning royalties, overwhelming detection systems and blurring the line between fan remix and scam.
• As labels and streamers race to monetize AI-powered tools, independent artists warn that weak guardrails, murky attribution and whack-a-mole enforcement could reshape music’s economy.

The SoCal reggae act Stick Figure is, in a way, glad the single “Run Run River” made a huge impression.

Stick Figure, founded by singer-songwriter Scott Woodruff in the mid 2000s, has earned billions of streams over eight albums as an independent act, with a lucrative touring career from his home bases in San Diego and Lake Tahoe. In 2022, Billboard called Stick Figure “the world’s top selling living reggae artist.” When “Run Run River,” a composition by Woodruff and his writing partner TJ O’Neill, unexpectedly went viral in late April, it hit No. 2 on Shazam, suggesting tens of thousands of curious new fans. It racked up tens of millions of plays on streaming services and social media.

Except “Run Run River” wasn’t released by Stick Figure. It was an AI-manipulated version of the band’s 2019 single “Angels Above Me,” sped up with a tweaked lead vocal and a dance-music kick drum. Stick Figure wasn’t mentioned anywhere, but someone was making thousands of dollars off its viral success.

“They didn’t credit us. We were just being ripped off,” Woodruff told The Times. “Someone’s making all these royalties and we thought we would never be able to get ahold of this.”

Stick Figure’s team spent weeks swatting down “Run Run River” online and steering attention back to...

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TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: ai; aidamages; aitheft; aitruth; angelsaboveme; copyright; intellectualproperty; music; runrunriver; stickfigure; stolenidentity; stolensongs; uncredited

[nickcarraway]

Interesting. Expect more. I looked to see if Rick Beato spoke bout this, but not yet.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

YouTube, TikTok, X and other sites are completely awash with ripoff artists. Dr. William Li is a well known author and speaker on nutrition and longevity and the web is full of AI knock-offs of him speaking. They have stolen his image, his voice, and his content and churned out many fake videos of him speaking. Here are a couple of them:

Ages 75–85: If You Still Do These 6 Things, You’re Truly One Of A Kind :Dr. William Li

Build Muscle After 75 THIS FRUIT PROTEIN 1,000,000x Better Than Eggs! | Dr. William Li

The fake AI Dr. Li asks viewers to comment and tell their stories...and they DO!

There are "disclaimers" at the bottom of the videos, but you need to click into them, scroll to the bottom, and "read the fine print." -- which nobody does.

Disclaimer
Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. All rights belong to their respective owners.

Disclaimer: The presenter appearing in this video is an AI-generated character and is not Dr. William Li. Dr. William Li has no connection to this video. The information shared here is inspired by Dr. William Li’s scientific approach, educational work, and publicly available knowledge, and is presented solely for educational and health awareness purposes to help inform and benefit viewers.

[nickcarraway]

I’ve seen those fake Dr. Li video. But sadly, from the comments, most people don’t realize it’s not him.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Plus, the content is actually quite good. At least seems to be. The fake “Dr. Li” cites research papers. Of course, they could be fake, too.

As could the comments from people falling for it.

[nickcarraway]

I hope they aren’t false. Is there a service someone like Dr. Li can engage to monitor and deal with this stuff?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wouldn't that be a great service! It would be like the Blue Check on "X". Unfortunately, it isn't possible today.

Claude --> The hard numbers are staggering. A single criminal network based in Sofia used AI to create deepfake videos promoting fake dietary supplements, and the scheme—active since 2019—generated over €240 million (roughly $260 million), deceiving millions across Europe before being dismantled in a coordinated international effort.

That's just one operation. Overall, experts describe these scams as "hugely profitable" at the scale of "billions of dollars." Scammers have used over 1,000 different deepfake videos across multiple communities and languages—English, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Russian, Czech, Polish, and others—targeting millions of recipients globally across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. The fact that millions of people can be reached by paying modest sums to create and distribute the content is "extremely alarming."

The economics are brutal for enforcement. The websites behind the fake products are typically based overseas and frequently disappear and reappear under new names, rendering individual reports and lawsuits ineffective. A scammer in Europe can host the product in South America, target Americans, process payments through shell companies in East Asia, and the trail goes cold. Individual victims recover maybe $300 or $400 through credit card chargebacks, but the operation scales globally and rakes in hundreds of millions. The risk-to-reward ratio is absurdly favorable for the criminals.

The Somalis have missed their calling!

[sushiman]

Check out Beato’s recent interview with Sean Lennon . Very interesting . Sean seems to be a top notch fellow .

[montag813]

I’ve seen those fake Dr. Li video. But sadly, from the comments, most people don’t realize it’s not him.

Because they are all in their 80s!

[dfwgator]

Any music made today is suspect. And I think down the road people aren’t going to be listening to anything made after 2020, because of the chance it is AI. People will stick with the “classics”.

The days of the Taylor Swift pop stars is coming to an end.