Spotify accused of ignoring "billions" of fraudulent streams of Drake's music

Spotify is being sued for its alleged role in ignoring "billions" of fraudulent streams of Drake's music, Rolling Stone reports.

A lawsuit filed in the California District Court on Sunday (October 2), by Rapper RBX against Spotify, claims the streaming giant has "turned a blind eye" to "mass scale" streaming fraud.

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The lawsuit specifically names the Canadian artist, who currently boasts 80.7 million monthly listens and is the most-streamed male artist in Spotify's history, as a beneficiary of the fraudulent streams. 

“Every month, under Spotify’s watchful eye, billions of fraudulent streams are generated from fake, illegitimate, and/or illegal methods,” the lawsuit states, claiming the use of bots causes "massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters, producers, and other rightsholders.” 

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In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Spotify said, “We cannot comment on pending litigation. However, Spotify in no way benefits from the industry-wide challenge of artificial streaming." 

“We heavily invest in always-improving, best-in-class systems to combat it and safeguard artist payouts with strong protections like removing fake streams, withholding royalties, and charging penalties."

Earlier this year, Spotify reportedly began removing streams as part of a crackdown on AI and bots on the platform — though it did not reveal which artists had been penalised.

Commentators have investigated the streaming numbers of big name artists, including Davido, who lost 18 million streams in May. 

Drake - who reached the milestone of 120 billion streams on the platform in September, the highest number in Spotify's history -  now has a figure of over 80 million monthly listens on his Spotify page.

[Via: Rolling Stone]

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter