In a bold move to tackle a growing problem in the music industry, Spotify has pulled back the curtain on the controversial world of stream farms — artificial streaming operations that generate fake plays using bots or click farms.
Amid rising concerns, particularly from artists in Nigeria who have begun to openly challenge this unethical practice, Spotify’s latest Spotify for Artists Masterclass addresses the issue head-on, highlighting not just the mechanics of fake streams but the real damage they cause.
Artificial streaming — or “guaranteed streams” as it’s often marketed — may seem like a tempting shortcut to success. But Spotify warns that these services are often scams. While they might promise top playlist spots or viral exposure, they ultimately deliver inflated numbers, mislead genuine fans, reduce royalties, and can even trigger penalties that damage an artist’s credibility and reach.
Many artists fall victim to these offers unknowingly, lured by the pressure to perform in a competitive digital landscape. That’s why Spotify is not only cracking down with advanced detection tools, manual vetting, and alliances like the Music Fights Fraud initiative, but also doubling down on education.
“Understanding how artificial streaming works is crucial,” Spotify stresses. “Only then can artists protect their careers and connect with real listeners — the fans who truly matter.”
The Masterclass video features key voices in the industry, including Andreea Gleeson (CEO of Tunecore), David Martin (CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition), and Bryan Johnson (Spotify’s Head of Artist & Industry Partnerships, International), each sharing insights on how artists can stay informed and avoid costly pitfalls.
Spotify encourages industry players and music lovers alike to help spread the word — because protecting music starts with protecting its creators.
Watch the video below:
Andreea Gleeson, CEO, Tunecore:
“It’s very, very important that we protect the ecosystem because we want as much of the royalty pool to go to artists with legitimate listeners and make sure that they’re the ones that are benefiting from all their hard work.”
“What we saw a couple years ago is that we would catch somebody and then they’d appear again on the platform because they came through another distributor. So several of us that are tackling the same problem actually got together a couple years ago. We formulated an alliance and it’s called Music Fights Fraud Alliance.
So the Music Fights Fraud Alliance is a coalition of companies across stream platforms, distributors, labels that have come together to be able to put our resources and brains against “how do we fight fraud?” That goes from how do we detect it, how do we mitigate it, how do we enforce it? We want to eradicate fraud. That is our mission and we’re gonna get as close to it as possible.
Ultimately, our goal is to get more money in the pockets of real artists with real fans. This is something we take seriously at every level all around the world and our efforts are working.”
“Many of us that are distributors are getting reports from the DSPs on artificial streaming. And we’ll notify our artists when we’re seeing it. So for an artist that’s starting out, maybe they hired a marketing firm that they thought was going to actually do PR and comms and marketing strategy for them.
But instead hired a bot farm and did artificial streaming. For the bigger artists, it even happens to them, and it could be a fan who’s bought ads, or a member of the team who was trying to be creative. It happens.”
David Martin, CEO at Featured Artists Coalition:
“We’re seeing artists get contacted on social media frequently. Often they’re 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.”
Bryan Johnson, Head of Artist & Industry Partnerships, International at Spotify:
“We know how frustrating it can be if you’re caught up in any of this. That’s why we’re 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.”
“To be crystal clear: You can’t buy your way onto a playlist. Any service charging you money to get on a Spotify playlist – including non-editorial ones – is a scam. They may claim to help book you Spotify ads to promote your music, but in reality the company took your money and utilized bots in an attempt to inflate your stream count. And, they may add your music to botted playlists.”
“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.”