My song got botted without my consent and now I have a strike

[Renegade226]

My song was added to a botted playlist without my consent and the streams spiked into several thousands for a few days. I immediately contacted Spotify to report this and the advisor in chat said "everything seems ok, and there's nothing we can do, we cannot remove private playlists from our service"...then 3 months later Spotify issues a strike against my account for fake streams from that same song I tried to report.

Does anyone else have experience with this? And did they get the wrongful strike removed?

[Robocop1]

Did you try to withdrawal your money? There you will find the big surprise not the 10$ fee

[anna-silvers]

I have also experienced the same thing tonight with one of my songs. Spotify said they have launched an investigation but no other information was given as to how long this would take, etc. Artists need to find a way to function without these platforms. They also said they will charge $10 for any songs where this issue reoccurs and have received three strikes. We have done nothing wrong and are having to pay money we don't have to Spotify for something out of our control and having our content, ethics and morals questioned by them. By reading the comments it appears to be happening to way too many artists.

[ChironsDream]

I am sorry this happened to you. It is happening to me too.  I have no control over this BOT situation.  That said. I'm getting strikes and have NO campaigns to do anything with promos. I also read through the Spotify Terms of Service. There is NOTHING stating anything about strikes. There is NOTHING warning me. Is this a scam??  Who is issuing strikes really?  Can Spotify really ban me for something they didn't warn me about. I have NO active promotions.  I have no control over this. And now I can be BANNED and FINED?? 

[ChironsDream]

Same!! Spotify support said to talk to my distributor.  My distributor doesn't have live chat support. So I have to WAIT until they email me. which can be days.

[Jackwurdrup]

Distributor don’t help either. Spotify is the only one that has to help. I’m looking everywhere for help because I’m on my 2nd strike in 7 songs that’s been on playlists that I never bought before. It’s sooo unfair like we don’t have control of playlists at all . Spotify need to fix this as soon as possible 

[ChironsDream]

I am so upset. 2nd strike here too. All of this is beyond our control. Another way to target original artists. Why?!?!

[jamesonday]

I paid for a Google Ad Campaign to promote my song online. Now Spotify gave me a Strike and withheld my royalties. How am I suppose to promote my material online?  

[ChironsDream]

Who is your distributor?? These groups need to Clearly Explain the RULES. OUTLINE this strike nonsense. THEN give us latitude. We didn’t know ANY OF THIS STUFF.

[Robocop1]

I didn’t used any campaigns beside sharing on my social media and now because of the Spotify’s strike my distribution DistroKid blocked me royalties for all the streaming platforms, for all my music and for all my splits from 80 songs, so you are kindly lucky I would say!

[KyleWalz]

Just got a notice here and similar situation.  I hope there is some recourse or information soon.  

[MartyChill]

Same here. This is very frustrating! Spotify should put a control on playlists add by the artists

[Robocop1]

The person who offer support for this type of issues at DistroKid is named Rambo. I find in pretty suggestive and accusatory just like the Spotify. So you do music, you give it to the world and you wake up with Rambo telling you that you use bots! Great!!

[kostafunk]

Spotify dear Friends have to protect from bots and fake playlist and not send fines and strikes !f you need the 10$ bucks i can send you all my money that i make the last 4 years for free !! I have get after 4 years that i am on spotify 2 days before Christmas a strike too for a song thats have tha last 28 days only 578 streams fron 525 monthly listeners so what is problem and where are the fake streams you idiots!! I don't pay for any service because i know that all of them are fake !! And to contact with spotify and tell them that you don;t do this i making a big hole in the water !! But dear people every hater,jealous Artist,Fan can buy fake streams for only 1-2 dollar and stream your songs and can take you down !! The question is if some frauders stream fake streams for example on big Artist like Ariana Grand or Taylor Swift would Spotify send them a strike and ban  them from their Services ?? I think nooooo !! Spotify itself have to remove fake Streams and fake Playlist and not send strikes to poor artist !! I have make an acount on Bandcamp and have put all my songs there for sale !! And if i ger flagged from spotify because of frauders they want to destroy me i have 2 different Premium acounts on Spotify thats mean that i get to cancel both if spotify ban me thats 263,76 $ Dollar a year and i don't become as Artist on Spotify 50 Dollar ! Now who win ?? Me of course  !! And With this**bleep** politic i give spotiy 2 years than it will be history !!! 

[kostafunk]

They get to keep more ?? 

[kostafunk]

Dear Friends of this Spotify community !!

I have written a commnet under belove and and i have to say something else what maybe don't want to like Spotify and Distrokid !! This two Services was for me that what i ever wanted to promote my Music great prices unlimited uploads and 100% keep your money 🙂 But this Year 2024 they wil be a lot of changes !! First do know that Distrokid belongs to Spotify ?? 

copy paste.........

Is DistroKid owned by Spotify?

“On October 1, 2021, the Group [Spotify] completed the sale of two thirds of its equity interest in DistroKid, realizing a gain of €132 million, which has been reflected as an unrealized increase in fair value as of September 30, 2021. Proceeds from the sale were €144 million,” explained Spotify in its filing. 

Then Spotify decide not to pay small Artist under 1000 streams this is 67% of all Spotify's music uploads 🙂 Spotify let every one create playlist that he don't have a premium acount !! That means that he don't know who this peolpe are !!! And they are **bleep** on Spotify on this !! Thausend of playlist Fake or Real it doesnt matter they make money behind Spotify ! This move is spotifys  fold !! Did you know tha t there are fake Spotify Premium Acounts out there !! I have see it and i was wondering how this can be happend ? If someone stream your song from such fake Premium acounnts maybe the Spotify detect a bot and you get a strike xaxa !! Playlist owner make good buissness they want from 5$ a song less to put your song on their playlist and this playlist maybe plays fake streams so than you Fu...d up !! And Again spotify is in fold for this and not the Artsist !! The other think is why Spotify decided το send mass strikes and fines to artist 10 days before Christmas ?? Very nice present from Spotify thank so much "Merry Fine Christmas" Spotify have take a Fine of 5,4 Million Euro in Juni for GDPR Violation yes !! Now its a theory from me that Spotify want to get back this money !! I have written this on Facebook at one Distrokid page and they have delete it immediately and ban me from this site !! Yes the thruth hurts i know !! So if we all small Artist do put all toghether to do something you will never become not 1 cent from your music !! Why Diistrikid don't put also a squere box to ask you, like he does for Youtube if you will that the song will upload to Youtube?? I want that distrikid put this also for Spotify if you want your music there !!! So why don't he do it ?? Do get your music for free thats why !! 

 Have all a wonderfull Day and see all soon 🙂 

[Claire_littley]

Hey all,

This is a massively upsetting issue for me as an Artist/ Songwriter and many others it seems experiencing the same.

I have received a 'Strike' from Spotify (via my distributer Distrokid) in regard to some of my songs having bot (fake) streams. This could ultimately end in my work being removed and banned by Spotify.

As a new Artist I am quite devasted at this possibility as it takes SO much work and dedication to produce and get your work out there and on to streaming platforms like Spotify.

I contacted Spotify Artist Support and flagged that I've had over 3000 streams in the past 7 days from their very own Spotify 'Radio' and that I've only been using their own 'Spotify Discovery' campaign. I just keep getting bit replies.

Many artists have said correctly that it's impossible to stop your songs being added to other listener's playlists. If they are using fake generated streams to promote that playlist then there is nothing you can do about this.

I'm very disappointed and disheartened with the response from Spotify which was that they couldn't tell me more and that they couldn't help but did confirm that I've received a Strike.

I'm following the rules. I'm using Spotify's OWN campaign system, NOT a third party so this is very frustrating.

I'm actually considering leaving Spotify after this as I cannot see a way forward if my music will be banned if added to genuine playlists that are indistinguishable from fake ones. Artists have no control over this.

What are your thoughts and experience of this.

The more of us that raise this issue, the better chance we have of getting this reviewed.

Please comment. Thanks you.

Claire

[WHOISJORDAN]

Unfortunately this same thing happened to me today.  I reported the playlist immediately but they still gave me a strike. They need to figure this out cuz it’s not cool at all

[ChironsDream]

What makes this all so much more confusing and frustrating. Spotify is an owner of Distrokid. We are being **bleep**. They are making the money.😡

https://musically.com/2021/10/27/spotify-has-just-sold-two-thirds-of-its-stake-in-music-distributor-...On%20October%201%2C%202021%2C,explained%20Spotify%20in%20its%20filing.

[Wasara]

I was working with a small "garage promotion" doing very small-scale promotion for my solo album (emails, playlist pitching, social media etc). I found out recently that they had submitted my music to Musicverse (a pitching service notorious for utilising bot playlists) without my consent, so when I got hit with a Spotify strike a few days ago, I immediately severed ties with the promotion and told them to go shove it.

But now, after the dust has settled for a bit, I started to go over everything and look further into the issue online. First off, it doesn't seem like my music ever found its way to any shady playlists (aside from some playlists that were very much organically contacted and for all intents and purposes are very organically maintained – as is the norm). Second: even if my music were added onto some bot-infested playlist, where was due process? Whether or not some of my songs were on a playlist from the shadow realm, I had no hand in any of it. Moreover, I wasn't notified, vetted, interviewed or otherwise noted on the issue by Spotify pre-strike, only informed by DK that I got a Spotify strike after the fact.

I am a working-class human being trying to make something of myself as a creator, and give something to the world which will, hopefully, outlive me as enrichment to other people's lives – which is what I assume most of us here are for. That said, I do not have immeasurable resources to spare, and the little time, money and effort I can muster towards my creative endeavours would be much, much better spent making music, sweating over lyrics and thinking about cover art than stressing over whether or not a service like Spotify may arbitrarily and without any fault of my own decide to ban me, delete my music and withhold the very measly royalties I was hoping to spend on creating new music.

This just sucks, Spotify. You're the biggest kid in this sandbox – why are you picking on the smallest ones?

[ChironsDream]

Well said. VERY well said. I find myself wondering if there is anyone filing a lawsuit yet. This seems entirely unfair.