Utilizing third party music promotion companies can be an effective way for up-and-coming artists to reach new audiences. Unfortunately, not all of these companies have your best interest in mind. Some promotion companies utilize fraudulent methods such as bots or streaming farms to generate artificial streams which give artists the illusion of growth.
As your trusted partner, we wanted to take a moment to warn you about some deceptive advertisements we’ve recently seen for illegitimate music promotion services.
How Can I Identify Fraudulent Promoters?
It should first be mentioned that no intelligent promotion company will claim that they are engaging in artificial streaming activity. Just because a promotion company or promoter is advertising “organic growth,” doesn’t mean that they are legitimate.
Avoid Guarantees or Estimates
One of the biggest indicators that a company is likely to be engaging in artificial streaming is if they are promising “guarantees” or "estimates" in their promotional packages. By its very nature, promising a guarantee cannot be done through organic growth alone.
A guarantee could be:
a specific number of streams generated on your music
a specific number of playlist placements for your music
a specific number of listeners
a specific size of audience exposure/reach
Third party promotion companies that promise playlist placements or a specific number of streams in exchange for compensation are likely using illegitimate practices without your knowledge. These services can threaten your hard work, resulting in the potential withholding of streams or royalties, or even complete removal of your catalog from streaming services.
Our streaming service partners work diligently to ensure streams are legitimate, meaning they reflect genuine user listening intent. If a streaming service finds that you (or a third party hired by you or on your behalf) have boosted play counts through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means (digital bots, “click farms”, payment for placement on playlists, etc.), they may permanently remove your entire catalog.
Do Your Research
Many promotional companies utilize Instagram as a vital marketing tool. If they are using bots or other fraudulent methods to generate streams, they are likely also using these methods to boost their social accounts. It may be helpful to look through a promotion company’s followers on social media and see if they are primarily followed by real artists or by fake accounts.
There is a similar mindset in looking at post engagement on Instagram. If a promotion company has thousands of followers yet they get an incredibly low number of likes on their posts, they may be untrustworthy. Keep in mind that post engagement may not always indicate if a company is legitimate or not, but is something to take into consideration when deciding if you want to use a certain company for promoting your music. If a promotion company looks too good to be true, it’s very likely that it is.
Spotify has a number of helpful resources related to artificial streaming that can be found below:
All You Need to Know About Artificial Streaming
What Is Artificial Streaming?
Artificial Streaming and Paid 3rd-party Services That Guarantee Streams
You can also find Spotify's guide to preparing for your release day below:
Preparing for Release Day and Beyond
What if I’ve Already Used This Promotion?
Looking at your streaming data can provide insights into what results a promotion company is yielding. You can do this by logging into your UnitedMasters account and navigating to the ‘Insights’ section or by using platforms such as Spotify for Artists or Apple Music for Artists.
Even if you aren’t using any promotion, checking your key metrics can still be a useful tool. In some cases, your release may end up on a playlist that is generating artificial streams without your consent. By staying up to date on your analytics, you can identify this behavior quickly.
Also, monitor fan engagement closely. Excessive repeated streams by a small group, such as fans looping tracks, may be flagged as artificial streaming by platforms. Be proactive in educating your audience to avoid such practices.
You can use the key metrics below to monitor your account for abnormal streaming activity.
Streams-per-listener: This shows how many times each individual listener streams your track. If you notice a large number of streams-per-listener, it may indicate artificial streaming.
Country/City of listener: As you are starting out, you should expect to see most of your streams coming from your local area and country since you are likely to connect with local fans first.
Gender and age: Look for a diverse range of listeners from different genders and age groups. If your streams are disproportionately from a single gender or age group, you may want to investigate further to understand why and adjust your promotional strategies.
If you notice anything out of the ordinary when looking at your streaming data, feel free to reach out to our Fraud Prevention Team and they will be happy to look into it for you.
If the abnormal activity you are seeing is coming from one playlist in particular, please report that playlist to Spotify using this form.
Navigating the vast landscape of music promotion can be difficult, especially as an independent artist. That being said, it can be a little bit easier if you are aware of some of the key indicators we mentioned above. We hope these tips have been helpful in learning how to avoid accidentally engaging in artificial streaming.
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