By August Brown, Los Angeles Times | 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 San Diego in the mid 2000’s, has earned billions of streams over eight albums as an independent act, with a lucrative touring career. 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 the actual artist. But the fake song’s uncanny popularity is a problem for musicians, labels and streamers. Records can now be manipulated by AI, at scale, and repackaged for profit without credit.
Streamers and social media can only catch so much fraud. Some are even embracing the practice with legal guardrails. Where’s the line between a fan’s AI-driven remix, and a scam?
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Oh, boy. Read more about this AI scam here and how it may affect YOU:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/we-were-just-being-ripped-off-musicians-lost-thousands-after-ai-bootleggers-stole-their-song/
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-06-09/stick-figure-ai-bootleg-streaming
Photo: Calendar
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