Spotify Hosts Masterclass to Tackle Stream Farming and Fake Plays in the Music Industry
Wafricnews - June 5, 2025
As the global music landscape becomes increasingly digitized, so too have the methods of manipulation. In a bold move to preserve integrity within streaming culture, Spotify has organized an Artist Masterclass aimed at confronting the growing threat of artificial streaming—a practice that continues to undermine fair play and real artist growth.
The masterclass, held virtually and accessible to artists worldwide, brought together key industry leaders to demystify stream farming and equip musicians with the tools to identify, resist, and report fraudulent practices in the digital space.
Featured speakers included Andreea Gleeson, CEO of TuneCore, David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, and Bryan Johnson, Spotify’s Head of Artist & Industry Partnerships (International). Together, they addressed the complexities of streaming manipulation—from bot plays and click farms to shady playlist schemes—and offered actionable insights to empower independent creators.
“This isn’t just a tech issue—it’s an artist equity issue,” one speaker noted. “Fake streams rob real musicians of royalties, mislead fans, and distort the industry’s understanding of what success truly looks like.”
Artificial streaming—often disguised by services offering “guaranteed streams” or rapid playlist placements—has become a predatory business model that exploits hopeful artists while polluting the authenticity of music discovery. According to Spotify, many artists fall victim to these schemes without realizing the long-term damage: reputational harm, platform penalties, and even potential deplatforming.
The platform shared details of its multilayered response, including advanced detection tools, manual auditing, and industry alliances such as the Music Fights Fraud initiative—a collaborative effort to standardize responses across streaming services and label partners.
“Education is critical,” Johnson emphasized. “We want artists to understand not just how these scams work, but why avoiding them protects their art and future.”
Speakers also stressed the need for a culture shift, encouraging artists to prioritize organic growth and genuine fan engagement over the illusion of virality or vanity metrics.
WafricNews notes that as African artists increasingly break into global charts, the stakes are especially high. Artificial streaming not only devalues the hard-earned wins of independent creators on the continent, but also risks sidelining authentic African voices in favor of inflated data and manipulated success stories.
Spotify has begun implementing manual forensic methods that trace and deduct fraudulent streams, ensuring that only legitimate listening data informs royalties and chart positions.
In an era where numbers often overshadow nuance, the masterclass serves as a reminder: music deserves a fair and transparent ecosystem—one where talent, not tactics, drives the charts.
By WafricNews Desk.
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