Dr Katherine Pittalis used her PhD to examine the fast-changing technology used in music-streaming platforms, online retail for concert tickets and music-related content on social media. She is currently developing her thesis into a book in the hope it will act as a wake-up call to industry.

As music-lovers continue to enjoy a summer of outdoor festivals and concerts, Dr Pittalis argues that the UK music regulatory framework is “woefully lagging behind” that of the EU and US in terms transparency around malicious actors’ use of bot technologies.

Her research examines phenomena including ‘metric bots’, which can inflate ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ on social media, along with ‘artificial musicians’ – the combination of deepfake technology with bots to create an AI ‘influencer’. This has the effect of creating a ‘buzz’ and boosting algorithms around certain musicians.

The malicious use of technology is increasingly sophisticated, according to the research, with bots ever-evolving to circumvent the rules laid down by the social-media, music streaming and primary ticketing platforms.

Scams are an obvious example of the increasing exploitation of technology, particularly on ‘secondary market platforms’, where tickets for high-demand concerts are sold on at hugely inflated prices. The research identified multiple instances where consumers handed over large sums of money only to find the tickets never existed.

The research also found that more informal ‘buy and sell’ groups, such as those individuals can set up on Facebook, are “highly unregulated” and even, on occasion, moderated by bots. Elsewhere, it found instances of bots moderating ‘community notes’ sections on social media – despite the fact that community notes were established explicitly to combat misinformation and fake news.

“It’s quite a depressing picture,” comments Dr Pittalis. “Social-media platforms are incredibly secretive about the use of bots. One study I consulted even found that X (formerly Twitter) has more bots now than when Elon Musk took it over and promised to get rid of them.

“From my research, the bots I discovered look more authentic in how they behave and interact with organic users. Even with protocols and safety measures in place, bots are continuing to thrive in these online environments and distort organic users’ perception of what is real and what is misleading content that has the potential to cause harm.”

For her book, Dr Pittalis is also investigating the use of social bots to spread malicious information designed to damage a musician’s reputation, such as the spread of explicit deepfake images of the pop star Taylor Swift on social-media platforms in 2024.

Music ticketing platforms’ use of dynamic pricing is fuelled by AI. This is when the price fluctuates according to demand, as with tickets for Oasis’ UK and Ireland tour last year. While technically legal, retailers are required to provide consumers with clear information about prices and not omit any details, in line with recommendations made by the UK Competition and Markets Authority after it investigated the Oasis ticket sale.

AI-generated music is also an issue. Musicians are starting to use aspects of AI in their production, but this has, in some cases, been taken to extremes with entire songs generated entirely by AI. There is a growing demand for this type of music to carry a transparency label but UK policy is still in development. Spotify last week announced that from mid-September, ‘AI Persona’ badges will start to appear on artist profiles generated by AI.

The PhD was carried out between the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EEECS) and the School of Law, both at Queen’s. Dr Pittalis has an undergraduate degree in Music and an MSc in Law and Technology, also from Queen’s.

The research was supervised by Professor Giancarlo Frosio from the School of Law and Professor Hans Vandierendonck from the School of EEECS at Queen’s.

Professor Frosio said: “This research makes an original and timely contribution to our understanding of how malicious automation is reshaping the music ecosystem.

“Its central insight is that this is neither simply a platform problem nor a state problem; effective regulation requires clearer legal duties and enforcement alongside much stronger platform-level detection, transparency and accountability.”

In her book, Dr Pittalis will be calling for the UK’s music industry, social media companies and policy makers to urgently tighten up cyber-security to ensure a better deal for consumers and artists.

“It’s not fair,” she concludes. “Consumers and authentic musicians are being squeezed out, marginalised by the very industry meant to support them.