I’ve come across some concerning information regarding music streaming services and would like to hear everyone’s opinions on the matter. It seems that some employees at Spotify are voicing their concerns about dubious business practices. They allege that the company is intentionally promoting artists who don’t actually exist in order to minimize their royalty payments.
This raises a lot of red flags for me. If you’re a musician trying to earn a living through your art, the competition is already fierce with countless other tracks out there. Now, it appears that you might also have to contend with completely fictional artists that the platform is actively promoting to cut costs.
Has anyone else been following this issue? What are your thoughts on the possibility of streaming platforms utilizing fake content to lower their expenses? It makes me think about what other questionable practices might be occurring behind closed doors that we’re unaware of.
This confirms what a lot of us indie artists have suspected for years. I’ve been releasing music for three years now and keep seeing weird patterns in playlist placements. Tracks with zero production value from nobody artists suddenly get prime spots while good submissions get buried. The money angle is huge - Spotify pays artists $0.003-$0.005 per stream, but if they own the content through shell companies, they pocket most of that cash. What pisses me off most is how this breaks the discovery system new artists depend on. We’re not competing on talent anymore - we’re fighting a rigged system that prioritizes cheap content over creativity. And since there’s no disclosure rules, listeners don’t know if they’re hearing real music or manufactured garbage.
Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me. I work in digital marketing and I’ve seen similar cost-cutting moves across platforms. The math is simple for Spotify - they pay way less for content they control vs. established artists who demand higher royalties. What’s really messed up is how this caps earnings for real musicians who already get screwed by streaming’s terrible payouts. Most users won’t even notice if half their playlist is fake tracks, especially for background stuff like workout or ambient music - the algorithm just feeds it to them. If this spreads, it’ll completely change the industry. Streaming platforms would basically become both distributors AND competitors to the artists they’re supposed to serve.
Not surprising given how streaming profits work. Spotify’s probably choosing cheaper, fake tracks to boost their margins. I’ve noticed tons of generic songs in playlists that sound algorithmically made instead of coming from actual artists. This screws up music discovery - real musicians can’t get noticed when platforms push low-cost filler content. I get that licensing is expensive, but this hurts both artists and listeners.
This fake artist thing happens way more than people realize. I’ve seen the same patterns on other platforms - content gets mysteriously boosted for no clear reason.
The real problem? Zero transparency. Artists need to know what they’re up against. When platforms game their algorithms to push cheaper content, it screws over the whole ecosystem.
What kills me is how easy this would be to fix with proper automation. You could build systems that verify artist authenticity, catch weird streaming patterns, and alert musicians when sketchy stuff tanks their reach.
I’ve been working on exactly this using Latenode - monitoring platform metrics and catching these anomalies. Set up workflows that pull data from multiple sources, analyze streaming patterns, and flag artificial promotion campaigns.
Once you automate the monitoring, you get actual data instead of gut feelings. Artists could finally prove when platforms are rigging things against them.
We should stop just complaining and start building tools that expose this stuff. Automation lets you track thousands of artists and playlists at once to spot the patterns.
Not surprised at all - the streaming industry’s cutthroat now. I work in digital marketing and we’ve seen algorithmic manipulation everywhere for years. The economics are obvious from Spotify’s side - why pay full royalties to established artists when you can pump out generic background music through production companies for pennies? What pisses me off is zero transparency around playlist curation. Users think they’re getting organic recommendations based on quality and popularity, but artificial content getting artificially boosted breaks the whole trust thing. This probably goes way beyond music too - bet other platforms are pulling the same crap with podcasts, audiobooks, whatever to juice their margins.
Been dealing with this at work too - platforms definitely manipulate data to save money. The fake artist thing runs way deeper than people think.
What kills me is everyone just reacts instead of getting ahead of it. You can track this stuff live if you set up monitoring.
I built something that scrapes playlist data and flags weird patterns. It takes 10 minutes to set up workflows pulling from Spotify’s API, cross-checking music databases, and alerting when tracks show up without proper history.
Key is catching it before it hits your playlists. You can spot artificial boosts, verify artists are real, and track royalty issues.
Most musicians just take whatever the algorithm gives them. But with automated monitoring, you get actual proof instead of just gut feelings.
I use Latenode since it handles API connections and data processing without coding. Set it once, runs forever, catches fake stuff as it gets pushed.
This explains why my Discover Weekly’s been garbage lately. I keep getting bland instrumental tracks that sound AI-generated in five minutes. Thought the algorithm was just acting up, but now I’m wondering if Spotify’s literally stuffing playlists with fake artists to cut costs. Pretty scummy if true - I pay for premium to support real musicians, not corporate-manufactured crap.