Artificial streaming and paid 3rd-party services that guarantee streams
Artificial streaming is a problem across the music industry. But what exactly is it? How can you avoid it? And what is Spotify doing to tackle this issue?
WHAT IS IT? An artificial stream is a stream that doesn’t reflect genuine user listening intent, including any instance of attempting to manipulate streaming services like Spotify by using automated processes (like bots or scripts). If left undetected, artificial streams dilute the royalty pool, shifting revenue from legitimate artists to bad actors. They also undermine the fair playing field that streaming represents.
3rd-party promotional services that advertise streams in return for payment violate our terms & conditions, and using them could result in your music being removed from Spotify.
Any service that claims to offer guaranteed placement on playlists on Spotify in exchange for money violates our terms & conditions, and they shouldn’t be used.
Please Read our blog for The consequences of using these services
The consequences of using these services
When we identify confirmed cases of artificial streaming or stream manipulation, we take actions that may include the withholding of associated royalties, the correction of public streaming numbers, and measures to ensure the artist or song’s popularity is accurately reflected in our charts.
In some cases, we can remove confirmed artificial streams from your data before your Spotify for Artists dashboard refreshes; in other cases, you may still see artificial streaming spikes in your Spotify for Artists data, even though associated royalties may be withheld. Spotify also reserves the right to remove manipulated content from the platform in the case of repeated or egregious artificial streaming.
We share monthly reports with labels and distributors about confirmed artificial streaming on our platform. Based on those reports, your distributor may take actions like issuing warnings or, in flagrant or repeated cases, removing your content from streaming services or suspending your account.
Suppose this happened to you, but you believe your streams were earned authentically. In that case, you should share information with your distributor or label about the methods used to genuinely promote the content in question. They’ll work with our team to review and hopefully solve the problem quickly.
How Spotify protects against artificial streaming
An artificial stream is a stream that doesn’t reflect genuine user listening intent, including any instance of attempting to manipulate Spotify by using automated processes (e.g. bots or scripts).
We put significant engineering resources and research into detecting, mitigating, and removing artificial streaming activity on Spotify so that nothing stands in the way of our mission of allowing artists to live off their art, and so that rights holders are paid as fairly as possible for their work.
The integrity of this is incredibly important to us because an illegitimate stream means there are honest, hardworking artists on the other side who can be impacted.
Artificial streaming charges
Spotify has introduced a new deterrent to combat artificial streaming, effective April 1, 2024, charging labels and distributors per track when flagrant artificial streaming is detected on their content. (This charge is only applied for very high rates of artificial streaming per track.)
We are able to fight artificial streaming once it’s attempted on our platform, but the industry would be better off if bad actors were disincentivized from uploading content to Spotify and other streaming services in the first place.
We believe this will meaningfully deter labels and distributors from continuing to distribute the music of known bad actors that attempt to divert money from honest, hardworking artists, as well as deterring the bad actors themselves.
These charges will support our continued efforts to keep the industry and platform free from artificial streaming activity.
This information is from Spotify
