Has Spotify Been Defrauded ?

[GhostShip]

This is an interesting story 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-46898211

Mysterious musicians have cropped up on Spotify, racking up thousands of listens and (perhaps) hundreds of pounds. It's a phenomenon that experts say could indicate a security flaw.

But while Spotify denies that accounts have been hacked, the music streaming site has not explained in detail how the playlists of some users indicate they've "listened to" musicians that nobody's ever heard of.

This news item could indicate that an insider has accessed folks play history and is using this mechanism to direct company funds to a fake set of groups or musicians whom doubtless are all registered with something in common, Spotify does after all have to pay the artist or their agent (often a recording industry label / affiliate label) a fee for each play so someone could be making a lot of money from this, lets hope the mystery is solved soon eh folks 

[White Stripes]

streaming services (as well as radio, be it terrestrial or satellite) are annoying in every sense of the word... best way to get music; sample new bands via p2p ... buy the ones you like on CD (or vinyl if you are into that) and build a collection..

[GhostShip]

Another aspect of p2p is that you get genuine recommendations from other users, little chance of corporate "hit manufacturing" when its one of your room friends talking a particular track up, a very grass-roots led organic feel to the whole thing.

I cant state enough that the approach mentioned by Stripes is the best way to try out new material, I too have a decent collection of stuff gathered across the years all purchased from the nasty recording industry but discovered via p2p, we support the artists and their work but I dont care much for the middle man still.

It reminds me of the difference between the pusher and the dealer   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XqyGoE2Q4Y

[Pri]

Thing I find surprising about Spotify, Tidal and so forth is that the record companies just expect them to be truthful about how many plays their songs are getting and then receive the payments for that.

I remember a story recently about Tidal inflating the listen numbers of Kanye Wests albums, not sure why the record companies who are usually extremely protective of their content would give up so much control etc