What is artificial streaming?

Artificial streaming, also called streaming fraud or stream manipulation, is activity that a partner platform identifies as unusual or not reflecting genuine listening. Artificial streams do not earn royalties and can put a release or catalog at risk.

Quick summary

• Services that promise guaranteed streams or playlist placement can create artificial streaming, even if you did not intend to manipulate activity.
• Do not use bots, scripts, paid stream guarantees, or other services that manipulate listening.
• Monitor your music on Spotify for Artists and report suspicious playlists with Spotify’s Playlist Reporter.
• Partners may withhold royalties, remove releases, or apply a penalty charge when activity is flagged.

What can lead to artificial streaming?

Paid promotion that guarantees streams or playlist placement may lead to artificial activity. A third party can cause suspicious activity without your knowledge, so check promotional services carefully.

How to protect your releases

1. Review a marketing or promotion service before using it, especially if it guarantees a specific number of streams or playlist placements.
2. Monitor your catalog in Spotify for Artists.
3. Use Spotify’s Playlist Reporter to report playlists you believe are suspicious.

Spotify and Apple provide additional guidance on stream manipulation and third-party promotion.

If a partner flags your release

If Spotify or another partner tells CD Baby that a release was flagged, CD Baby will notify you by email. A flagged release incurs a penalty charge, which is posted to your account and deducted from your balance. 

In some cases, artificial streaming activity and penalties may result in your release being taken down from some or all streaming services.

It isn't possible to remove one track from an album from a partner, so if we remove a track, the full release/UPC it's associated with will be removed. 

Learn more from our partners

• Spotify - All you need to know about artificial streaming
• Apple Music - Protect yourself from stream manipulation

Please note: Links to third-party sites are provided purely for informational purposes and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information. These sites are not governed by our artist agreement and privacy policy.