The Music Fights Fraud Alliance (MFFA) announced today the appointment of Michael Lewan as its first Executive Director. Lewan, a seasoned leader with extensive experience in industry advocacy, will oversee the Alliance’s strategic initiatives and operations from Washington, D.C. With a robust background in government relations and advocacy, Lewan most recently served as Managing Director of State and Federal Advocacy at the Recording Academy. 

“We are thrilled to have Michael Lewan join Music Fights Fraud as our first Executive Director,” saidAndreea Gleeson, CEO of TuneCore. “When TuneCore and Believe co-founded the Music Fights Fraud Alliance together with Downtown, our goal was to unite the music industry, foster collaboration, and take smarter, more impactful action to tackle fraud in all its forms. Michael’s extensive experience in government relations, policy advocacy, and building stakeholder partnerships makes him the ideal leader to guide MFFA’s mission forward. His leadership and vision will be crucial as we continue working toward a more equitable and transparent music industry.” 

Michael Lewan, Executive Director of Music Fights Fraud, commented "As streaming fraud increasingly threatens the livelihoods of artists and right holders and undermines the integrity of the music economy, the Alliance's work has never been more critical. I am excited to lead this dedicated group of industry leaders in our mission to create a fairer, more secure, and more transparent music ecosystem. Together, we will continue to build on the progress we've made, strengthen our collaboration, and drive impactful solutions that protect artists and ensure they are fairly compensated for their work." 

Formed in June 2023, the Music Fights Fraud Alliance represents the first time all corners of the music industry have aligned as a united front to combat fraud in music. Comprising global music companies - including CD Baby and FUGA alongside parent company Downtown, TuneCore and its parent company Believe, Amazon Music, Spotify, EMPIRE, Symphonic, United Masters and other distributors - the Alliance has pioneered a cross-platform collaboration to tackle fraud. The collective founding membership have mobilized working groups and task forces made up of staff from each organization to address best practices in the areas of identification, mitigation, and enforcement. This has, most importantly, led to direct dialogue between distributors, labels and DSP members that has and will lead to collaborative solutions. Issues that were once thought of in silos are now tackled head on by the founding membership with additional membership growth planned under Lewan to create a collective force amongst industry leaders in the fight against fraud. 

Since its founding, one key achievement of the Alliance’s collective effort is the development of a robust, shared database of identified fraud markers across multiple platforms and members. In partnership with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), the database enables members to securely share and access critical data about fraudulent activities in an anonymized manner. This innovative data-sharing initiative allows the Alliance to pool resources and knowledge, providing a unified approach to identifying, tracking, and disrupting fraud in real time. By combining the expertise of its members with the resources of the NCFTA, the Alliance is enhancing its ability to detect and prevent fraud at an industry-wide level, ensuring that all members have the tools and insights needed to take meaningful action against fraud. Recognizing that not all members will be able to contribute to the data sharing in the same manner, Lewan will be working with the founding Members to establish member tiers that will accommodate the various types of members that could benefit from and support MFFA in other ways. 

Darren Owen, FUGA Vice President of Operations, noted, "As founding members of MFFA, FUGA and Downtown have worked closely with the other early members to define how best to approach integration with the NCFTA API, as well as working to help define data structure and usability of the system to ensure we deliver on the goals set by the MFFA. 

The MFFA/NCFTA database has already become an integral part of our own trust and safety procedures. By using the API, we are able to manage the monitoring for fraudulent activity both at scale, as well as zoomed in for individual asset analysis. As we look to future iterations of the systems that are being developed via the combined efforts of the MFFA, its members and the NCFTA, it's easy to see how we can further collaborate to tackle the industry wide problem of fraud. As new members join and the datasets grow, it offers even more security to creators, rights-holders, distros and DSP's."

In addition, the MFFA is pleased to announce the addition of eight new members: YouTube, SoundCloud,Meta, OneRPM, STEM, Revelator and Too Lost. These new members join the Alliance’s existing partners in a united effort to detect, prevent, mitigate and enforce anti-fraud measures, working towards a music industry free of fraudulent streaming practices.

Ama Walton, EVP & General Counsel for Soundcloud comments, "Fairness and transparency are central to our mission at SoundCloud. By joining the Music Fights Fraud Alliance, we’re reinforcing our commitment to supporting artists and contributing to a safer, more sustainable music industry. Combating streaming fraud requires a unified effort, and we’re proud to stand together to uphold authenticity and ensure artists receive the compensation they deserve."

“Music Biz is proud to have been a part of overseeing the growth of this important industry alliance, and we believe Michael is the perfect person to grow and guide the Alliance into the future,” said Portia Sabin, President of Music Business Association

Music Fights Fraud is a self-governing association with future membership subject to approval by its members. Parties interested in joining Music Fights Fraud can find more information at www.musicfightsfraud.com.