On February 9, electronic artist Ben Jordan, who goes by the alias Flashbulb, tried to reference one of his songs during a recording session, but was unable to access his music on Spotify or Tidal. At first he thought his phone was malfunctioning, but then he started receiving messages from fans asking why he had removed all his music from his streaming platform. Not surprisingly, panic began.
Jordan, who has earned more than $500,000 in streaming royalties and relies on them for a significant portion of his income, has unwittingly become embroiled in a new crackdown on fraud by streaming services. His distributor, TuneCore, received a notification from Spotify indicating that significant artificial streaming activity was detected on his music. TuneCore immediately removed all 23 of his albums from all streaming platforms without warning.
Streaming fraud is one of the most serious problems facing the music industry. Because most streaming platforms operate on a pro-rated payment model where payments are based on an artist's share of total streams, scammers are stealing millions of dollars from legitimate artists, songwriters, labels, and publishers. Successful in stealing money. And with DIY distributors like TuneCore and Distrokid, virtually anyone can distribute unlimited audio files to streaming platforms for about $20 a year. The barrier to entry is virtually non-existent because the volume is so difficult to police effectively. (Note: The Spotify policy violation warning in the image above is from his Distrokid.)
Artists using these DIY distributors will earn a total of $1.8 billion in 2023, representing just over 5% of the global recorded music industry's total market share, according to music research firm MIDiA.
Late last year, Spotify announced the biggest changes to its payment structure since its founding. In an attempt to combat streaming fraud and generate more revenue for “emerging and professional artists,” the company will not issue royalties for songs that receive fewer than 1,000 streams per year, and will not issue royalties for songs that receive fewer than 1,000 streams per year. Distributors will be fined $10 for each track detected to be streaming. An artificial flow. DistroKid estimates that it delivers close to 30,000-40,000 songs every day, and TuneCore is not far behind, which has significant implications. There are many distributors that cater to independent artists and labels, but DistroKid and TuneCore have taken the most aggressive approach.
TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleason and VP of Artist Support Erica Clayton revealed that pressure from streaming services led them to implement the admittedly aggressive policy. As part of the newly formed Music Fights Fraud Alliance, TuneCore supports the Spotify fine. However, Gleason said TuneCore plans to implement a warning system in the future.
“To effectively prevent the royalties of real artists with real fans from being diluted by bad actors, all companies need to be part of the solution,” Gleason told Variety in a statement. ” he wrote. “To protect our legitimate artists, TuneCore diligently removes content reported by DSPs for high rates of fraudulent streaming activity. Despite our best efforts, some legitimate artists are You can fall victim to streaming scams or be taken advantage of by scammers posing as digital marketing or promotion companies. We promote a fair streaming environment and enable all artists to thrive. We are actively improving our policies and practices.”
Meanwhile, DistroKid introduced a strike system to notify artists that Spotify has reported significant artificial streaming activity against their music. Assuming that the artist is responsible for the streaming violation, the distributor may advise the artist to cease promotional activities, remove the track from Spotify if the artist is unaware of the misconduct, or impose a fine or I advise you to face a complete ban. Artists must then answer a series of questions to demonstrate that they understand how the violation occurred before being granted access to their accounts (and funds).
Singer-songwriter Jonah Baker, who gained popularity for his acoustic covers on YouTube, currently earns approximately $200,000 annually in streaming revenue and has more than 150 million streams across multiple platforms. He received a strike notice from his DistroKid stating that his music contained significant artificial streams, but says he doesn't know why. Apparently he wasn't paying for the service to increase his streams. DistroKid's customer support advised him to remove this track or face a ban, so he removed it, hoping the same thing wouldn't happen with his other music.
DistroKid's notice notes that this is due to Spotify's policy, and artists are asked to confirm through a quiz and checkbox that they will not use promotional programs specifically targeted at Spotify. .
A Spotify representative denied that the platform does not have a strike or warning system and does not require artists to remove songs in such cases.
A Spotify spokesperson said in a statement to Variety: “When Spotify identifies and confirms artificial streams, we withhold royalties from those streams and report the activity to labels or distributors. Spotify does not require labels or distributors to remove content from the platform. Although we do not instruct you to remove them, we may enforce our own removal policies. We continue to strive to minimize the impact of stream operations across our platform and remove high levels of artificial streams. We are working to quickly remove any playlists that contain it.
However, DistroKid offers unique promotional services for its users with its annual $89.99 plan. Its “Playlister” feature allows artists to find contact information for third-party user-created her Spotify playlist editors. Contact information is often a link to a company called SubmitHub. The company is a platform where third-party playlist curators charge a few dollars for their tracks to be heard and considered for inclusion in a playlist. The more popular a playlist becomes, the more submissions curators receive and the more money they earn. While platforms like SubmitHub aren't technically in violation of Spotify's Terms of Service, many of these playlists have artificial features because playlist creators charge for the content rather than for inclusion. It is widely known that it contains bot activity that can lead to false streams.
Although SubmitHub has publicly stated that it “vets and verifies all curators before granting them access to the platform,” curators of questionable playlists still manage to slip through the cracks. Jason Grishkoff, founder of SubmitHub, explains: “Playlisters apply to join SubmitHub and go through a review process to try to identify potential infringers for artists on Spotify. If you are willing to ask for money. [for a playlist placement] They're probably willing to buy fake plays and followers. ”
Viper, an artist who uses DistroKid for distribution, had her song removed due to a notice from the company stating that streaming her track “Fusion” was “100% artificial.” The song was included in Spotify's official editorial and algorithmic playlists, generating nearly 14,000 streams for her over several weeks, until it was removed by DistroKid. It is highly unlikely that 100% of her streams of tracks included in Spotify's official playlists are artificial.
In an interview with Variety, DistroKid President Phil Bauer said, “DistroKid must follow the rules and policies established by streaming services.'' “Streaming services typically do not disclose their fraud management policies because it makes it easier to circumvent them,” it said, referring all questions about its playlists to Spotify.
False takedown notices aren't limited to DIY artists. Seth Cullen, artist manager for This Fiction, whose clients include X Ambassadors, Thors and Jukebox has detected significant human streaming activity on your account. This group had songs included in Spotify's official editorial and algorithmic playlists. Although Cullen submitted his music to several playlist editors on SubmitHub, he vows that no one in his camp paid for artificial streaming.
Several other artists and managers interviewed for this article have also been targeted by multiple bot attacks, generating large numbers of synthetic streams and fake followers. They were all knowledgeable and tried to promote their music in a legitimate way while trying to abide by the rules set by Spotify and its distributors. Their only recourse was to notify the distributor and her Spotify that they were aware of the attack and were doing nothing. Invite them, even by paying for artificial streaming or hiring a playlist service. And I hope neither the distributor nor the streamer deletes the music.
Distributors and streaming services often use language that holds artists accountable for fraudulent activity detected on their accounts, but artists are also encouraged by streaming services, distributors, and fraudsters seeking to exploit the system. It has become clear that he is often caught in the middle of gunfights between for their own economic benefit.
It's understandable that some artists are trying to circumvent the rules, but solutions to streaming fraud shouldn't come at the expense of innocent artists.
Ari Herstand is the author of the best-selling book How To Make It in the New Music Business, host of the Webby Award-winning New Music Business podcast, and CEO and founder of music business education company Ari's Take. He is also an independent musician. .