Stop Playlist Scams

[ASouthworth]

There is a widespread Spotify playlist scam that has been running for at least a year, and i've seen it result in artists getting their music pulled from the platform when they've done nothing wrong. 

Basically the scam is a playlist company will add songs by 2,000 artists per day to their playlist, pumps bots to all the songs on it (maybe even some followers) hoping the artist will see the spike in streams and check it out in Spotify for Artists. The playlist has contact information or a website link on it, and they're hoping someone falls for it and hires them for more fake promo.

The playlist company is adding songs without the artists permission, and sometimes artists get banned even though they never initiated this.

Here are some ideas for how Spotify can fix this problem:

1. Make it impossible to put URL's or email addresses in the playlist descriptions
2. Provide some option for artists to report the playlists and have their songs removed from the playlist
3. Create better detection algorithms that punish the playlist creator and not the artists on the playlists
4. Switch to a user centric payment model that makes bots non-viable
5. Impose limits on the Spotify API that make it costly for bad actors to scale these types of bot attacks

[Fabtones]

totally! they pulled my album and now I'm in the usual runaround between them and CDbaby. I mean wth are we supposed to do. you come by your streams honestly and when it looks like you're getting too many of them (isn't that the point of promoting yourself?) then they accuse you of cheating and pull your music off! This sucks!!!!

[erikstearns]

Yes. You make that point exactly. Because we're the smaller artist, we
can't get more than so many plays, else it's automatically determined that
we are somehow committing fraud? It's jut more of the big tech and big
entertainment censorship. I've had enough of it. It took me DECADES to get
to where I was before this started. Now I wonder if it's even worth it
anymore.

[NotD]

Totally agree! It's just disgraceful.... 😠

[PeterDenmark]

Same thing happened to some of my bands releases through RouteNote.

So if I am to reinstate the music with another distributor, should I use the same UPC and ISRC codes, or should I make the new distributor create new UPC and ISRC codes ?

[erikstearns]

I would be tempted to get different ISRC numbers but that would mess up your
algorithms and analytics.

I would check out Top Music attorney on YouTube and even submit that
question. I'm considering the same solution myself.

[JoseCorteReal]

YOU ARE LYING!!!

Every time I detect a Suspicious playlist using my music for their promotion, I complain and Sportify don't care. The suspicious playlists continue to operate freely and Spotify takes down ours songs. In 6 month i had 36 songs taken down some with lesse than 200 plays. No Bots at all. Just included on suspicious playlists that help Spotify to not pay copyrights to artists and Authors. This is MAFIA! CARTEL operation! Spotify is using suspicious playlist easy detected with even the sites adresses on those playlists. If Spotify A.I. Detects suspicious streaming and don't detect the playlists and take them down, they are using those playlists against innocent artists.

[JoseCorteReal]

Top Music Attorney Sucks, they want your money...

They asked me more money than I get from Spotify just to speak with me...

[JoseCorteReal]

YOU'RE LYING!!!

Every time I detect a Suspicious playlist using my music for their promotion, I complain and Sportify don't care. The suspicious playlists continue to operate freely and Spotify takes down ours songs. In 6 month I had 36 songs taken down some with less than 200 plays. No bots at all. Just included on suspicious playlists that help Spotify to not pay copyrights to artists and Authors. This is MAFIA! CARTEL operation!

Spotify is using suspicious playlist, easily detected with even their sites adresses on those playlists.

If Spotify A.I. Detects suspicious streaming must also detect Suspicious playlists and take them down, they are using those playlists against innocent artists. It's a security Issue. Spotify error! I think that this is an economical issue, financial engineering! I easy way to stop paying small artists. This is a case to be discussed in Justice. I never got any solution on Artist support or Distribution support just a ping-pong of answers, one sending me to the other one. Liars! This is cartel operation!

[erikstearns]

So, how am I misleading you? I can bring receipts of my conversations with Spotify when I could miraculously get ahold of them and TuneCore's decision not to reinstate my music despite proof of the conversation where Spotify admitted their mistake in taking down of my material. . Second, while I believe that the practices you mentioned are not ethical at all and those are generated by fake promotion entities, I've engaged in none of these practices. In fact, it's widely known and proven that there is a problem with Spotify's algorithms that are flagging small artists for removal and thus causing them to be unjustly removed from not only Spotify, but also taken down from other platforms by distributers such as TuneCore, Distro Kid, CD Baby, etc.
Therefore, I resent the fact that you called me a liar. Unless you have specifics as to where I lied, I suggest you rescind your erroneous statement immediately as that's nothing more than a trolling attack. I'm sure that sort of behavior violates Spotify's terms of service for this forum. In addition, I'm sure that your behavior denotes the fact that you are a keyboard warrior that only seeks to attack those you see fit and don't want to be responsible for your false accusations.

[erikstearns]

I'm sorry to hear that you don't like TMA. For the record, the only thing I
have to do with TMA is that I've recommended them to other small artists
solely to direct other small artists to information that has proven to be
valuable in helping them understand what's going on regarding the unjust
removal of smaller artists and their materials from music platforms. To
date, I have not received any money from TMA, nor have I invested in any of
their products. I've only recommended TMA as a resource of information -
period. Why? Because the information that was expressed in said channel was
detailed, factual, and up to date. In addition, I've found that TMA has the
most comprehensive knowledge of this issue as compared to other sources.

It's regretful that you're not satisfied with the products and or services
offered by TMA. Having said that, I'm not responsible in any way for your
stated interactions with TMA. I don't' receive any money from TMA, nor do I
expect any compensation. I refer people to that channel because I'm tying
to direct other small artists who have encountered problems with their music
being unjustly taken down to a resource which may aid them in finding a
solution or at least a workaround to the problem.