Ten DJs in the UK have been arrested after police there found that they had engaged in a crazy scam to collect royalties from their music–using stolen credit cards. The DJs laid out $30 to have TuneCore distribute their music to iTunes and other digital-music services; they then bought about £450,000 ($738,000) of their own music, only they used the credit-card accounts of identity-theft victims to do so. Not only did the sadly unnamed DJs’ behavior allow them to tote up some £200,000 ($328,000) in royalties, it apparently got them noticed by a few record labels, thanks to their inflated chart placements.


The DJs are being held on charges of fraud and money laundering, although I do wonder if their out-and-out sleaziness is going to result in them getting noticed by labels’ HR departments as well as their A & R departments. Just think of all the pre-release publicity leaking these guys’ names could be good for–and the ease with which music hacks could write stories about them!


Music gang in alleged iTunes royalty scam arrested [Telegraph via artistspaid]