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On Thursday (Jan. 12), Spotify released its Hot Country Artists to Watch list, and making this year’s list is Megan Moroney, who just released a music video for her viral hit “Tennessee Orange, which currently ranks at No. 43 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.

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“I remember when I moved to town, I dreamed of being on the Hot Country Playlist,” Moroney said in a Spotify video. “To be on that playlist now is very cool for me and I’m very grateful.”

“Narcissist” singer-songwriter Avery Anna makes the list too, as does Dylan Marlowe (known for his remake of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” and new song “Goodbye Gets Around”).

ERNEST, who earned a top 20 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “Flower Shops” (featuring Morgan Wallen) and recently launched his own music publishing venture, also makes the list.

“There have been a ton of awesome names on this list and it’s an honor to be one of them,” ERNEST says in the video.

Country-rock group 49 Winchester’s high-octane sound puts the group on the list, while they are joined by “Don’t Come Lookin’” hitmaker Jackson Dean, whose music was recently featured on the hit series Yellowstone.

Also landing on the Spotify Artists to Watch list this year is the group Restless Road, known for “Take Me Home” (a collab with Kane Brown inspired by the John Denver classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads”), as well as “Growing Old With You.”

Others making the list include Ella Langley (“Country Boy’s Dream Girl”), Josh Ross (“First Taste of Gone”) and Tanner Adell (“Honky Tonk Heartbreak”).

See more from this year’s honorees below:

A prominent ’90s hip-hop duo is suing Universal Music Group for withholding royalties tied to what they’re alleging is a “sweetheart” deal the label reached with Spotify in the late 2000s.

Filed Wednesday (Jan. 4) in U.S. district court in New York by attorneys representing Andres Titus (Dres) and William McLean (Mista Lawnge), members of the hip-hop duo Black Sheep, the lawsuit claims UMG owes its artists approximately $750 million in royalties deriving from the company’s stock in Spotify. Under a licensing deal they claim UMG and the streaming giant reached in 2008, the label agreed to receive lower royalty payments in exchange for equity in the then-nascent streaming company. But Titus and McLean say the label breached their contract with Black Sheep and other artists by withholding what they argue is the artists’ rightful 50% share of UMG’s now-lucrative Spotify stock — and otherwise failing to compensate them for the lower royalty payments they received as a result of the alleged deal.

“Rather than distribute to artists their 50% of Spotify stock or pay artists their true and accurate royalty payments, for years Universal shortchanged artists and deprived Plaintiffs and Class Members of the full royalty payments they were owed under Universal’s contract,” the complaint reads. Titus and McLean further claim that Universal deliberately omitted from royalty statements both the company’s ownership of Spotify stock and the lower streaming royalty payments that resulted from its alleged deal with the streaming service.

“Over time, the value of the Spotify stock that Universal improperly withheld from artists has ballooned to hundreds of millions of dollars,” the complaint continues. “These and the other wrongful conduct detailed herein resulted in the Company’s breaching its contracts with artists, violating the covenant of good faith and fair dealing that is implicit in those contracts, and unjust enrichment at the expense of its artists.”

In a statement sent to Billboard, a UMG spokesperson denied Titus and McLean’s claims: “Universal Music Group’s innovative leadership has led to the renewed growth of the music ecosystem to the benefit of recording artists, songwriters and creators around the world. UMG has a well-established track record of fighting for artist compensation and the claim that it would take equity at the expense of artist compensation is patently false and absurd. Given that this is pending litigation, we cannot comment on all aspects of the complaint.”

According to the lawsuit, Titus and McLean signed a record contract with Polygram in July 1990 (later amended and revised in July 1991) as Black Sheep — the duo best known for the hit rap single “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)” from their RIAA Gold-selling 1991 album A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. Black Sheep’s record contract was then assumed by UMG after the company merged with Polygram in 1998.

UMG acquired just over 5% of Spotify shares “in or around the summer of 2008” in a licensing agreement in exchange for lower royalty payments, the complaint adds, citing a 2018 Music Business Worldwide report. It claims that Universal acquired additional Spotify shares through its 2011 purchase of EMI, which had acquired shares in the streaming company around the same time, the suit alleges. It then cites UMG’s own prospectus, released in September 2021, revealing that the label held roughly 6.49 million, or roughly 3.35%, of Spotify shares as of June 30, 2021, valued at 1.475 billion euros ($1.79 billion).

It’s worth noting that UMG’s stake in Spotify has become significantly less lucrative since June 30, 2021, however. As of Wednesday’s closing price, UMG’s stake in Spotify is now worth just $560 million — the result of Spotify shares falling 70.5% over the past 18 months. Notably, Spotify isn’t the only streaming service UMG has equity in; according to the same prospectus, it also owns 0.73% of Tencent Music Entertainment shares, a stake that’s currently worth $112.5 million.

Included as an exhibit in the complaint is Black Sheep’s amended July 1991 contract with Polygram, which states that royalties paid to Titus and McLean “‘shall be a sum equal to fifty percent (50%) of [Universal’s] net receipts with respect to’ the ‘exploitation’ for any ‘use or exploitation’ of ‘Master Recordings’ created by Plaintiffs.” The plaintiffs claim they and other UMG artists are thereby entitled to 50% of the labels’ Spotify stock but that UMG has failed to pay it. This demand stems from a couple of broad assumptions: that all artists in the class signed similar contracts and that they were similarly not compensated with a portion of UMG’s stock holdings in Spotify.

The plaintiffs are asking for compensatory damages, punitive damages and an injunction “or other appropriate equitable relief” requiring UMG “to refrain from engaging in deceptive practices” as outlined in the lawsuit.

UMG isn’t alone among the major labels in acquiring Spotify stock — both Sony and Warner Music, as well as indie Merlin, also have or had stakes in the company. In May 2018, Sony sold half of its 5.707% stake in Spotify for an estimated $761 million, while that same month Merlin announced it sold its entire stake for an unknown amount and had shared the proceeds with its members. Warner followed suit in August 2018 when it sold its entire 2% stake in the streamer for $504 million, with the company announcing that around $126 million of the proceeds would be paid out to the company’s artists.

UMG has yet to sell any of its stock in the streaming giant.

-Additional reporting by Glenn Peoples

You can read the full lawsuit below.

Spotify has promoted longtime employee John Stein to head of North America, editorial, the company announced on Tuesday (Dec. 20). He reports directly to Sulinna Ong, global head of editorial at the streaming service.
Stein joined Spotify in 2013 after the streamer acquired his previous company, the playlisting firm Tunigo. Prior to his promotion, he worked as lead of music culture and editorial, overseeing strategy and curation for Spotify’s U.S. editorial playlists and becoming a strong voice on the company’s editorial team and the music team as a whole.

In 2018, Stein co-created Spotify’s successful genre-less playlist Pollen, which today boasts more than 1.3 million likes on the platform. Due to Pollen’s phenomenal success, the streaming service began leaning into the concept of playlist-as-brand and eventually introduced other similar playlists, including the pop-leaning Lorem (more than 969,000 likes) and the Nordic region-focused Oyster (more than 102,000 likes).

With his promotion, Stein has three new direct reports on his team. They include Rachel Whitney, head of Nashville, editorial; Antonio Vasquez, head of U.S. Latin, editorial; and Ronny Ho, head of dance and electronic development, editorial. The trio joins Stein’s existing team, which includes Ehis Osifo, editor, editorial partnerships; Jess Huddleston, editorial lead, Canada with her direct reports Marc Matar, junior editor, Canada and Karla Moy, editor, Canada; Talia Kraines, senior editor, United States with her direct reports Fredrik Fencke, editor and Lulu Largent, junior editor; and Elizabeth Szabo, senior editor, along with her direct report William Nellis, junior editor, North America.

Just two weeks after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek ripped Apple for “bullying” app owners in a Nov. 30 tweet thread, the executive doubled down on his comments during an interview that aired Thursday (Dec. 15) on the streamer’s For The Record podcast. During the appearance, Ek said Apple’s controls over payments and data on its app store create an anticompetitive environment that is “harmful for the economy and consumers.”

“They continue to give themselves unfair advantages really at every turn and setting themselves up as both the referee and player in this game,” stifling competition and hurting competitors and consumers, Ek said.

A vocal critic of the iPhone maker over the years, Ek has ramped up calls against Apple’s policies in recent months. The U.S. Senate has just weeks left in its current term to pass a bill that would rein in the control Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google exert over their apps marketplaces.

Introduced last year by Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal along with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, the Open App Markets Act would block app store owners from requiring app developers to use its payments platform. The bill would also ban app stores from pushing their own products over competitors’ products and permit app developers to communicate more freely with customers and open the door to apps being downloadable from more platforms.

Speaking on the podcast, Senator Blackburn said the bill is gaining support daily.

“The reason we need this is to open up the marketplace to allow more competition, to allow developers to be able to take their product directly to the consumer,” which would lower some costs for developers at a time of high inflation in the U.S., Blackburn said.

App stores run by Apple and Google have traditionally taken a cut of in-app purchases. Prior to 2016, Spotify charged users 30% more if customers upgraded to a premium subscription inside Apple’s App Store to offset Apple’s 30% fee. To save on fees, Spotify has not allowed in-app purchasing on its Apple app since 2016.

Ek threw the weight of his company behind Blackburn’s bill on the podcast, saying that Spotify believes there needs to be regulation in this space to make clear that developers or companies can interact with consumers.

“There is an enormous concentration of power where one company here [is] dictating the rules for how millions of companies should be able to conduct business,” Ek said on the podcast.

This is not the first time Ek has taken on Apple’s App Store in the regulatory arena. In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission against Apple, alleging that rules governing its App Store “purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience — essentially acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spotify has canceled at least six of its live audio shows as part of the audio giant’s latest round of programming cuts.
Included in the cancelations are Deux Me After Dark, a celebrity gossip show hosted by the anonymous creator known as Deux Moi; Doughboys: Snack Pack, a food show hosted by the comedians Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell; The Movie Buff, a movie review show hosted by the comedian Jon Gabrus; A Gay in the Life, a current events and LGBTQ+ culture show from Teen Beach Movie star Garrett Clayton and writer Blake Knight; Taylor Talk, a Taylor Swift fan show hosted by Ellie Schnitt; and Lorem Life, a music show based on Spotify’s Lorem playlist hosted by Dev Lemons and Max Motley.

The cancelations, two of which were not previously reported, were confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by a Spotify spokesperson.

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At least two deals for the Spotify Live shows were canceled midway through the creators’ contracts, according to a person familiar with the matter. A second source close to the matter said that all the contracts are being paid out in full, despite the cancelations.

The audio giant, which rebranded its live audio offering in April from Spotify Greenroom to Spotify Live, will continue to release live episodes from The Ringer MMA Show and The Fantasy Footballers, the latter of which struck a deal with Spotify earlier this year that included an extension of the show’s partnership with Spotify Live through the next three NFL seasons.

Other creators like Alex Cooper, whose Spotify Live show was promoted as part of the company’s live audio rebrand, have not continued hosting live episodes since launching their shows earlier this year. Cooper’s second and most recent live episode took place in April and was made available for on-demand listening on April 28.

The programming changes, first reported by Bloomberg, are the latest cuts from the audio giant, which recently canceled a total of 11 shows from in-house studios Gimlet and Parcast — 10 of which came to an end last month. The cuts have followed a similar model to cancelations in TV programming for broadcasters and streamers.

This article originally appeared in THR.com.

Not long ago, a placement on Spotify’s RapCaviar or Apple Music’s Today’s Hits playlists could ignite a single’s streaming numbers overnight. “Today’s Top Hits [32 million followers on Spotify] used to be the holy grail,” says one manager of several major-label acts. “Or even Pop Rising [2.7 million] — it was like, ‘If a song got on Pop Rising, it’s going to get to Today’s Top Hits and do 5 million streams a week.’ ”

But in 2022, the manager continues, “it doesn’t feel like that’s the case.” This realization is growing around the music industry. “The Spotify and Apple editorial playlists don’t have as much punch” as they did, agrees Kieron Donoghue, founder of Humble Angel Records and former vp of global playlists strategy at Warner Music Group. “The major streaming platforms are reacting to culture now rather than driving it,” adds Tatiana Cirisano, music industry analyst and consultant for MIDiA Research.

In a statement to Billboard, Sulinna Ong, global head of editorial at Spotify, countered that the platform’s “top five editorial playlists are followed by more than 80 million listeners — they’re wildly popular.” She added that the overall audience for playlists is larger than ever, “these listeners have increasingly diverse tastes, Spotify is meeting that consumer demand, and, as a result, more artists are being discovered.” A representative for Apple Music declined to comment for this story.

But managers sound nearly misty-eyed when they reminisce about the streams that some editorial playlists once generated. “There used to be a world where an unknown artist would get the cover of the Fresh Finds playlist [on Spotify] and they would get between 60,000 and 100,000 streams a week,” says one manager who works primarily with developing acts. “Now you’re looking at more like 15,000 to 20,000 streams a week.”

“Does Today’s Top Hits move the needle as much now as it did four years ago?” one senior label executive asks. “No.” The difference is especially stark, he adds, if you’re not near the top of the playlist.

Label executives say the change in firepower of marquee editorial playlists is caused in part by the increased emphasis on personalization, especially at Spotify, which encourages users to play music similar to what they’ve streamed — in essence, burrow deeper into their own tastes — rather than pushing all listeners to play the same tracks. The shift is also a reflection of the growing power of apps like TikTok in music discovery: “The pie of ‘discovery market share’ has become more fragmented,” according to Daniel Sander, chief commercial officer of music marketing technology company Feature.FM. The gatekeepers who program editorial playlists are ceding ground to user-generated content on short-form-video platforms.

There are exceptions: Managers say some of Spotify’s editorial playlists in Southeast Asia, for example, still have oomph, as does the phonk playlist, which launched earlier this year and caters to a rising subgenre of dance music popular in Eastern Europe. (Beneficiaries include dhruv, who has 7.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and Kordhell, with 12.7 million.) But executives maintain that many of the big-name editorial collections are not magnifying songs the way they once did.

Some of that decline is due to changes at the streaming services. In 2019, Spotify took playlists like Beast Mode and Chill Hits, which previously had been the same for all listeners, and personalized them “for each listener based on their particular taste,” according to a company press release. (This change did not affect playlists like RapCaviar, Baila Reggaeton, and Today’s Top Hits.)

Spotify found that this had two effects: Listeners tuned in to personalized collections for longer, and the streaming wealth was spread across more acts — raising “the number of artists featured on playlists by 30% and the number of songs listeners are discovering by 35%,” according to one 2021 announcement.

In her statement, Spotify’s Ong noted that “listener habits have become increasingly diverse, so our playlist strategy has expanded to accommodate that.” She says personalized editorial playlists are responsible for “a third of all new artist discoveries on Spotify.”

TikTok, which now spurs a lot of music discovery, embraced personalization from the beginning. Users marvel at how well the app seems to anticipate their tastes: “Everything on TikTok feels like it was meant especially for you,” says one music executive.

Short-form-video platforms like TikTok have also fundamentally altered the timeline of a hit. “With the rise of TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, artists can play song snippets or behind-the-scenes content and drive fans to take action — discovery is happening before your song would even be able to be put on an editorial playlist,” says Sander.

In addition, TikTok rejuvenates catalog tracks — ranging from Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” (released in 1977) to Thundercat’s “Them Changes” (2017) — and pushes them back on to the charts, defying many marquee editorial playlists’ emphasis on front-line releases. “The path of a hit has changed,” says one major-label executive. The major streaming platforms “haven’t built anything to adjust to that.”

As a result, the power of streaming-service gatekeepers has eroded. “You’re going to find the next curator on TikTok,” says one A&R consultant at a major label. The mantle of the editorial playlisters has been taken up partly by remix-focused accounts on TikTok, which release sped-up or slowed-down versions of sounds that millions of users incorporate into their own videos.

User-generated content is “what’s driving TikTok and driving the charts,” says Kuok Meng Ru, CEO of music technology company BandLab. “People feeling involved gets them more excited.”

And there’s no way to be involved with editorial playlists other than hitting the “like” button. “We’re seeing in consumer surveys how much Gen Z really does want to actively participate in music — not just listen and consume passively, but make their own videos, remix the song, create their own content on top of it,” Cirisano adds. “The major streaming services don’t offer that.”

Michèle Hamelink was named managing director of Sony Music Publishing Benelux. In the role, Hamelink will oversee and implement creative strategy across Benelux, including building and strengthening relationships with clients, local societies and industry partners and expanding songwriter support and service offerings. Based in the company’s Benelux office, Hamelink will also continue in her existing role of senior A&R. She reports to Sony Music Publishing president of international Guy Henderson.

Layla Amjadi was hired as head of music expression at Spotify. In her new role, Amjadi will oversee a team that builds formats enabling “artists, aspiring creators and fans to creatively express themselves through and around music in new ways.” She arrives at the streaming service from Gemini, where she served as vp of product and general manager. Prior to that, she worked in various roles at Meta/Instagram for nearly a decade. She reports to Charlie Hellman, vp and global head of music product.

BMG announced a new A&R structure for its Madrid-based operation, with Marcos Fairweather leading on the recordings side and Javier Doria fronting the publishing side. Fairweather joins from Universal Music Spain, where he was A&R director. Doria has been with BMG since July 2020, when he joined the company to lead A&R across publishing and recordings. Both will report to Albert Slendebroek, who also oversees BMG in Scandinavia. Under their direction, the company will target growth in the Spanish language market, with a renewed focus on established artists.

Dani Oliva was named vp of business and legal affairs at Suzy Ryoo and Troy Carter‘s Venice Music. Oliva, a transgender man, joins the company from Oliva Law Group, P.C., which he established in 2017. “We are beyond proud to welcome Dani to Venice,” said Ryoo in a statement. “With his legal expertise as well as the distance traveled in his personal & professional journey, he is an incredible addition to our team and community at Venice.” Oliva can be reached at dani@venicemusic.co.

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) appointed Nina Radojewski as head of membership, a newly created role that brings together AIM’s membership, events and marketing and communications functions under her leadership. Previously AIM’s professional development lead, Radojewski will oversee the creation and execution of the organization’s membership strategy while continuing to lead professional development initiatives for members, including the AIM Academy and the Associate Members’ Knowledge Base. AIM’s outgoing membership manager, Jude McArdle, is stepping down after more than five years in the role. Radojewski can be reached at nina@aim.org.uk.

Cameo Carlson was appointed CEO at mtheory, where she’s worked since 2017. Also promoted at the artist development and management services company are Michael Corcoran, upped to general manager; Carmela Frangella, formerly controller, elevated to CFO; Amy Davidson, promoted to executive vp; Vince Amoroso, named senior vp, head of marketing; Jonah Berry, upped to vp of marketing out of New York and Los Angeles; and Kaitlyn Moore, promoted to vp of marketing out of Nashville. The company also hired Ed Rivadavia as senior vp, head of digital. Carlson can be reached at cameo@mtheory.com, Corcoran can be reached at michaelc@mtheory.com, Frangella can be reached at carmela@mtheory.com, Davidson can be reached at amy@mtheory.com, Amoroso can be reached at vince@mtheory.com, Berry can be reached at jonah@mtheory.com and Moore can be reached at kaitlyn@mtheory.com.

On-demand vinyl platform elasticStage appointed Raoul Chatterjee as COO. He joins the company from SoundCloud, where he served as vp of content partnerships & operations. Based in London, the Billboard 2021 International Power Player will report to elasticStage founder and CEO Steve Rhodes. Chatterjee can be reached at raoul.chatterjee@elasticstage.com.

Megan Schultz was promoted to label manager at Riser House Entertainment. She will continue to oversee all label operations and scheduling for artists signed to the company’s Riser House Records label, along with label services clients. Schutz can be reached at Megan.Schultz@RiserHouse.com.

Chase Butters was named vp of sync at Concord Music Publishing out of Los Angeles. Butters will lead a team focused on increasing and enhancing Concord’s synch placements in advertising. He reports to senior vp of sync Brooke Primont and can be reached at chase.butters@concord.com.

ATC Management added a trio of new manager partners: Brandon Sanchez, Jordan Alper and Ben Rafson. All three will join manager partner Fabienne Leys and general manager Jessica Fekete at ATC’s newly opened New York office. Sanchez and Alper bring their joint management client Yaeji to the company, while Rafson brings artist clients Avalon Emerson and Jacques Greene. Sanchez joins from New York-based record label RVNG Intl. and also co-runs independent record labels SLINK and Human Pitch; Alper has worked as a talent buyer and producer for Red Bull Music Academy NY, Trevanna Entertainment and Does Festival; and Rafson, who has been in management for nearly 15 years with a focus on electronic musicians, recently founded and serves as executive director of The Rising Artist Foundation grant system. Rafson can be reached at ben@atcmanagement.com, Alper can be reached at jordan@atcmanagement.com and Sanchez can be reached at brandon@atcmanagement.com.

Melanie Seddon was promoted to vp of brand marketing at TuneCore. She will oversee all brand marketing efforts for the company as well as brand partnerships.

Elvin Sabla has been named creative brand director at Shore Fire Media, where he will oversee the PR firm’s branding and content strategy. Sabla most recently led editorial for Crypto.com’s NFT platform.

ASM Global named Kelvin D. Moore regional vp and general manager of McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Moore will focus on creating new programs and partnerships. Moore was previously regional vp and general manager for ASM Global at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. He succeeds David Causton, who has served as general manager of the venue since 2004. Moore can be reached at kmoore@asmglobal.com.

Jen Moss was hired as a senior synch executive at Bucks Music Group. Previously at Warner Music UK, she arrives at Bucks after several years away from the industry for personal reasons. She can be reached at jmoss@bucksmusicgroup.co.uk.

Rebecca Trujillo Vest, Carls Woolf and Jordan Stobbe launched Pandion Music Foundation (PMF), a nonprofit organization designed to help foster growth in the music creator community by providing the tools and networks needed to build careers “across all lines of diversity and inclusion,” according to a press release. Partners at launch include Earthstar Creation Center, 2indie.com and Sweetwater. PMF previously partnered with 2indie, a synch coaching agency, to hold a global 24-hour “Sync-O-Thon” on Sept. 28, 2022, which helped support emerging artists by bringing in music professionals to provide feedback on their songs. PMF subsequently offered workshops by Sam Knack, Nick Phelps and others. Trujillo Vest, Woolf and Stobbe first met through an online songwriting course during the pandemic. Trujillo Vest can be reached at rebecca@pandionmusicfoundation.org and Stobbe can be reached at jordan@pandionmusicfoundation.org.

As streaming became the dominant mode of music consumption, fraud and “fake streams” have been regarded as a minor nuisance — generally acknowledged but seldom worried about. Most industry executives tend to see this activity as a way for aspiring acts to inflate their numbers, and thus their commercial potential, or as an avenue for grifters to steer money into their pockets by running up plays of white noise or rain sounds.  

At least since this summer, however, SoundCloud has detected evidence of fraudulent streams or manipulation on multiple releases from both notable independent acts and major-label artists, including hitmakers with track records of successful singles, according to two sources familiar with the company’s operations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. And this is not unique to SoundCloud. This summer, Deezer executive Ludovic Pouilly told the French investigative publication Les Jours that it has become more common to see “artists in the top 200 who have millions of real streams” have fake streams as well.  

Streaming services are increasing their effort to fight the fakes. In a statement, a spokesperson for SoundCloud said, “We take the issue of stream manipulation extremely seriously and make every effort towards identifying and mitigating inauthentic plays.” It’s not alone: Earlier this year, a Spotify spokesperson told Billboard, “Stream manipulation is an industry-wide issue that Spotify takes very seriously.” SoundCloud also works with a third-party company that “specialize[s] in bot detection” to fight stream manipulation, an executive said at a Music Biz panel in May. (The panel had a pointed title, “They’re Coming For Us: Fraudsters & How We Stop Them.”) 

Streaming executives say there are a handful of ways to fraudulently boost an artist’s numbers, including harnessing bot networks or fake or stolen user accounts, and that this activity is becoming “more intense,” as Pouilly put it. At Music Biz, Napster senior vp and general counsel Matthew Eccles noted that fraud on the platform “increased over COVID.” 

In fact, the current streaming business is rife with “very prevalent fraud and abuse,” according to SoundCloud vp of strategy Michael Pelczynski, who spoke at the same panel. This abuse has “cultural ramifications,” Pelczynski added: If fraudulent streams go “undetected and not policed, and [they] start influencing the way we measure the success of music, we are literally supporting inauthenticity.” 

The level of fake streams detected varies by service and region. At one point, bots on Pandora were generating “a large, large fraction of spins,” according to George White, senior vp of music licensing at SiriusXM, “nearly equaling” the amount coming from human accounts. Pouilly told Les Jours that “7% of the volume of daily streams [on Deezer] is now detected as fraudulent.”  

The Merlin Network, which handles digital licensing for many independent labels and distributors, used to send members a monthly report detailing the percentage of fraudulent streams from their releases on Spotify; this February, 2.5% of ad-supported streams and 1.2% of the plays from premium Spotify accounts were identified as fraudulent. (Asked about the issue, a spokesperson for the platform said that stream manipulation was “an industry-wide issue.”) The ad-supported number was nearly 10% at one point in 2020, according to one executive who received the report.  

As evidence of what Pelczynski dubbed “prevalent fraud” grows, music executives worry that artists who are playing by the rules will start to feel pressure to pad their numbers in order to keep up with rivals — especially in an increasingly crowded landscape where it feels harder than ever to stand out. Paying for fraudulent streams “will become a marketing expense that everyone needs to employ if it’s left unchecked,” White warned at Music Biz.  

Eccles from Napster worried that the music industry could enter a phase like professional cycling decades ago, when cyclists felt compelled “to dope” just to compete at a high level. It is “key,” Eccles stressed, “to avoid a situation where that happens in music.” 

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on Wednesday (Nov. 30) blasted Apple for “stifling innovation and hurting consumers,” publicly renewing his company’s longstanding grievance that the tech giant abuses its dominant position over the market for smartphone apps.

In a series of tweets, the Spotify founder said Apple was “shameless in their bullying” of app developers and called on lawmakers in both the U.S. and the European Union to take “action” against a company that he said “doesn’t seem to care about the law or courts.”

“Over and over again @Apple gives itself every advantage while at the same time stifling innovation and hurting consumers,” Ek wrote. “Apple offers consumers the illusion of choice and give[s] developers the illusion of control.”

A spokeswoman for Apple did not immediately return a request for comment on Ek’s tweets.

Spotify has long been an outspoken critic of the rules Apple imposes on its app store — namely a 30% surcharge on most transactions made within the platform, and provisions that restrict how apps steer customers toward outside payment systems.

Apple says tight rules for app developers are needed to protect users from payment fraud and privacy violations. But critics say the company — which currently controls more than half the U.S. smartphone market with the iPhone and iOS operating system — is merely exploiting its dominant position to extract more money. Those complaints are even stronger from Spotify, since it also directly competes with Apple Music for subscribers.

Google, which accounts for the vast majority of the rest of the market for smartphone apps, is facing similar criticism and litigation.

The arguments against Apple’s app policies won a powerful ally last week when new Twitter owner Elon Musk raised the issue amid his own messy dispute with the tech giant. After claiming Apple had pulled its advertising and had threatened to pull Twitter from its app store, the polarizing billionaire asked his 120 million followers if they were aware that Apple “puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy.”

In Wednesday’s thread, Ek directly quoted Musk’s tweet, as well as others who have voiced similar criticism. Citing “bipartisan support and global interest,” he said that “momentum” was building for some kind of action against Apple.

“So how much longer will we look away from this threat to the future of the internet?” Ek wrote. “How many more consumers will be denied choice? There’s been a lot of talk. Talk is helpful but we need action.”

Apple is already facing a high-profile lawsuit, filed by Fortnite creator Epic Games, that claims the app store policies violate federal antitrust laws. A trial court issued a split ruling on the case last year, and the battle is currently pending before a federal appeals court.

Though not directly involved in the Epic case, Spotify filed its own complaint against Apple in 2019 with the European Commission, the EU’s regulatory enforcement watchdog. Last year, EU regulators released preliminary findings that Apple had likely broken the law, saying the company “deprives users of cheaper music streaming choices and distorts competition.”

Even bigger changes could be coming via new legislation. In Washington, D.C., a bipartisan trio of senators are pushing a bill called the Open App Markets Act, which would impose strict new rules on both Apple and Google’s app stores. And lawmakers in the EU have already passed a new statute called the Digital Markets Act, which will place a raft of new restrictions on how app stores are run.

Though it will take time for the new EU law to fully go into effect, it was aimed directly at complaints like the one Ek voiced Wednesday against Apple. In an interview with Wired last month, one of the law’s architects said he expected “significant” consequences: “If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not just from the App Store but from other app stores or from the internet.”

It’s the time of year — the mercury is diving (or soaring, for those of us in the south), holiday classics are ringing out in the stores, and Spotify unleashes its Wrapped campaign.
Today (Dec. 1), the music streaming giant unveils the songs that kept its 456 million listeners (with 195 million “paid” subscribers) plugged in.

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is No. 1 on Spotify’s most-streamed global artists list, with more than 18.5 billion streams in 2022. The rapper becomes the first artist to top the list three consecutive years, and also dominates Spotify’s annual albums chart.

Following the smash hit that was her tenth and latest album, Midnights, Taylor Swift comes in at No. 2 among Spotify’s most-streamed artists, while the top 5 is rounded out by international acts: Drake, The Weeknd, and BTS, respectively.

The biggest single of the year belonged to Harry Styles, whose chart-leader “As It Was” racked up more than 1.6 billion streams. Lifted from the British pop singer’s third solo studio album, Harry’s House, the single this year led the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping 15 weeks, and reigned over the Official U.K. Singles Chart for 10 weeks.

Styles leads an all-international top 5, ahead of Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves;” The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay;” and Bad Bunny tracks “Me Porto Bonito” and “Me Porto Bonito,” respectively.

The former One Direction artist’s third album Harry’s House went to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the world, and came in at No. 2 on Spotify’s most-streamed global albums list, behind Bad Bunny’s irrepressible Un Verano Sin Ti, which dominated the Billboard 200 in 2022 for 13 weeks.

Also, Spotify drills into its data for insights into those acts whose music is most shared (Taylor Swift), the most-shared lyrics (“Heat Waves”) and most popular podcasts (The Joe Rogan Experience, which Spotify exclusively licenses).

The streaming platform’s annual chart splurge is the entre for its Wrapped experience, which eligible users can access and share from today from Spotify mobile app (iOS and Android).

“This year’s Wrapped is both a celebration of a year gone by and an invitation to join in on the fun,” reads a statement, accompanying the year-end lists.

In addition to the annual rundown, this year’s Wrapped includes a creator experience for podcasters and artists. And Artist Wrapped, now in its sixth year, rolls out with several new features including “Your Artist Messages,” a dedicated Wrapped video feed, personalized to each listener; and a “Spotlight” on merchandise and ticketing which, for the first time, sees personalized offerings integrated into the Wrapped Hub and promoted to top fans via in-app notifications and other channels.

From Dec. 1, the likes of Jack Harlow, Elton John, NIKI, and others will promote Wrapped exclusive merch to their top fans.

Launched in 2017, Artist Wrapped is now available in 36 languages.

Spotify 2022 Wrapped Global Top Lists:

Most-Streamed Artists Globally 

Most-Streamed Songs Globally

“As It Was” by Harry Styles

“Heat Waves” by Glass Animals 

“STAY (with Justin Bieber)” by The Kid LAROI 

“Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny feat. Chencho Corleone

“Tití Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny

Most-Streamed Albums Globally 

Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny

Harry’s House, Harry Styles

SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo

=, Ed Sheeran

Planet Her, Doja Cat

Most Popular Podcasts Globally 

Most Viral Artists Globally

Most Shared Lyrics Globally

Spotify 2022 Wrapped U.S. Top Lists

U.S. Most-Streamed Artists

U.S. Most-Streamed Songs

“As It Was” by Harry Styles

“Heat Waves” by Glass Animals 

“Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy 

“Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny feat. Chencho Corleone

“First Class” by Jack Harlow 

U.S. Most-Streamed Albums

Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny

Harry’s House, Harry Styles

Dangerous: The Double Album, Morgan Wallen 

Midnights, Taylor Swift 

SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo

U.S. Most Popular Podcasts

U.S. Most Popular Audiobooks