Clout-Chasing DJs Are Faking Co-Signs by Dubbing Over Crowd Videos. Will Labels Bite?

Attention Fraud Clout-Chasing DJs Are Faking Co-Signs by Dubbing Over Crowd Videos. Will Labels Bite? deadmau5 and Chainsmokers weigh in on EDM’s most insidious new trend By Michaelangelo Matos Michaelangelo Matos View all posts by Michaelangelo Matos March 2, 2026 Dance music has had a rough go of it in recent months — from clubs shuttering en masse to event cancellations due to goon-squad invasions of American cities. Now, a new test of the DJ ecosystem has reared its insidious head: the clout deepfake. This disturbing trend has taken on a couple of forms — so far. The first is the simplest: namely, fledgling dance producers have been hijacking footage of big-name DJs playing to jumping crowds, overdubbing their own music onto it, sharing it to their socials, claiming clout that doesn’t actually exist, and fooling fans and potentially even record labels in the process. It bubbled to the surface in early January, when Alex Pall of the Chainsmokers posted a note on LinkedIn that set off a fusillade of responses. He called the trend “kind of genius, kind of dishonest, but just really interesting to watch play out.” Pall continued: “ o the average viewer, it feels like the song … blowing up, getting played out, building momentum. But it’s not real … It’s just someone pasting their song over a clip and letting the internet fill in the rest … And the wild part is how well it works … If it’s that easy to fake momentum, then what does ‘support’ even mean anymore?” (Pall declined Rolling Stone ’s request for further comment.) If that weren’t bad enough, the clout deepfake has been upped to another level. On Facebook on Feb. 11, deadmau5 wrote a note in his typically no-holds-barred style that said, in part: “WELL, IT HAPPENED. Woke up to some idiot DJ’s Instagram story … that depicted me standing there promoting him and his music. FULLY AI generated, voice wasn’t quite 100% but pretty damn convincing … I’m sure we’re all going to be seeing much more of this.” Reached on to...