IFPI Streaming Integrity Initiative: five voluntary distributor baselines, DistroKid unsigned

IFPI announced it on 14 September. Voluntary, no penalty

On 14 September 2026, in London, IFPI launched the Streaming Integrity Initiative (SII). It frames distributors as a gateway into digital music, well placed to stop fraud-oriented uploads, and sets a shared baseline for prevention, detection, and response. Participation is voluntary. Music Business Worldwide reports that the published SII document sets out no audit requirement, no reporting obligation, and no penalty for a signatory that does not follow it.

Five baseline commitments

IFPI says participating distributors commit to five practices: verify rights ownership and customer identity through rights checks and Know Your Customer (KYC); vet content for infringement, fraud, and AI-related risks; detect, investigate, and mitigate suspected fraud, including action against repeat offenders; share intelligence where legally permissible so bad actors cannot hop services; and measure and continually strengthen anti-fraud systems. The longer SII text also calls for identifying AI-generated content, protecting voice, name, image, and likeness (VNIL), and banning repeat offenders across platforms.

Who signed, who did not

IFPI’s launch list includes Universal, Sony, Warner, Merlin, HYBE, CD Baby, The Orchard, FUGA, Virgin, ADA, and AWAL, among others. MBW flags DistroKid, Believe/TuneCore, and UnitedMasters as unsigned at launch. Music Ally adds TikTok’s SoundOn as another conspicuous absence. DistroKid claims to distribute roughly 40% of new music, and MBW notes it was a founding member of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance in 2023 and remains a member. Unsigned on SII is not the same as leaving that older body. CD Baby did sign SII.

The signal for producers

The production signal is not a change in statute. It is distributors adopting KYC and AI-risk screening as a shared vocabulary. Read with UMG’s DistroKid complaint the next day (15 September), DIY unlimited-upload paths are likelier to tighten around identity checks, rights checks, AI labeling, and repeat-offender bans. SII is voluntary: a signature does not certify your catalog, and a missing name is not an immediate takedown. Check the KYC and AI-metadata rules on the distributor you actually use, and keep masters and rights proof on hand for a bounce.

• Assume KYC and rights checks get thicker before upload — have ID, payee, and proof ready
• AI generation and voice likeness can be screening targets; false metadata is the adjacent fight
• An SII signature is not clearance. An unsigned name is not an instant ban. Read the live terms

Where Kominami sits

This note does not change Kominami’s site license. It is a public-record summary, not legal advice. SII is a voluntary industry commitment and does not rewrite Kominami’s terms.