Streaming to the top isn’t always as organic as it seems. From inflated numbers to compromised credibility, stream farms have become a controversial topic in the music industry, with many artistes and industry stakeholders speaking out against the practice. 
 
Streaming farms are networks of bots or fake accounts that artificially inflate music streams on platforms like Spotify, a digital music, podcast, and video service that give access to millions of songs and other content from creators all over the world.
 
The goal is to manipulate streaming numbers, making it look like a song is more popular than it actually is. This can lead to higher chart rankings, more record deals, and increased exposure. According to a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), stream manipulation costs the music industry millions of dollars each year.
  
Spotify has removed over 200 million fake streams from its platform in a single year, which translates to millions of dollars in lost royalties for legitimate artistes. Recently, it exposed the truth about stream farms, revealing the dangers of the practice and its impact on artistes.
 
The streaming platform also shed light on artificial streaming, highlighting how stream farms harm artistes and distort the music industry. Spotify’s new approach, following a recent trend of Nigerian artistes speaking out against the practice, suggests that their concerns as artistes have been acknowledged and addressed.
 
Addressing the issue head-on in its latest master class, the streaming platform clarified the complexities of artificial streaming —inflated stats, its negative impact on artistes — lost royalties, misled fans— and how creators can protect themselves.
 
Speaking during the master class, David Martin, CEO at Featured Artists Coalition revealed that many artistes are unknowingly targeted by services promising “guaranteed streams” or playlist placements, which are often red flags leading to penalties and hindering genuine fan connections.
 
He said, “we are seeing artistes get contacted on social media frequently. Often they are getting DMs and then if they actually were to research those companies, they don’t exist or they don’t have a footprint. ‘It is: we will guarantee you this, we will guarantee you these fans. We will guarantee you this reach; we will guarantee you these streams.’ That’s always a red flag.
 
“If anybody is guaranteeing that they can get you on playlists or they can boost your fans, I would say avoid that. I would say do your research. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true,” Martin added.
  
Speaking on how such actions will be tackled, Head of Artiste & Industry Partnerships, International at Spotify, Bryan Johnson, said, “we know how frustrating it can be if you are caught up in any of this. That is why we are investing heavily in tech and resources to detect artificial streams, and enforcing policies as quickly as possible to deter bad actors from doing it in the first place. This is something we take seriously at every level, all around the world. And our efforts are working.
 
“Our policy is that when we detect any artificial streams, those streams do not earn royalties. They are fully removed from royalty calculations and do not dilute the royalty pool in any way. Those streams do not count toward public stream numbers, monthly listener count, or charts. Labels and distributors will be charged per track when significant artificial streaming is detected on their content. This charge may then be passed on to the artists whose tracks are detected as artificially streamed,” he added.