How a Random Bulgarian Playlist Made Millions by Hacking How Spotify Works
A random playlist managed to siphon off what may well have been millions of dollars in Spotify’s pool to pay artists’ royalties — all potentially without breaking any of the site’s rules.
The alleged scam is the perfect mix of absurd and audacious. An individual or group in Bulgaria created a couple playlists, unimaginatively titled “Soulful Music” and “Music From the Heart.” The more successful of these, “Soulful Music,” was at its peak as the 35th most popular playlist in the world and the 11th biggest in the United States, even though it had a measly 1,797 followers and only about 1,200 monthly listeners.
The most probable explanation for all this is that someone or someones in Bulgaria set up 1,200 computers with premium Spotify accounts, then had them play the songs on “Soulful Music” constantly. While it would cost $12,000 to set up all those accounts, the payoff would be worth it.
The report estimates it would be possible to squeeze out at least 72 million plays of the songs out of those 1,200 accounts, which would be the equivalent of $288,000 each month. A little finagling of the playlists so each song played for the bare minimum of 30 seconds could up that number to north of 100 million plays, or about $415,000.
Source and more: https://www.inverse.com/article/41573-spotify-bulgarian-playlist-list-scam
A random playlist managed to siphon off what may well have been millions of dollars in Spotify’s pool to pay artists’ royalties — all potentially without breaking any of the site’s rules.
The alleged scam is the perfect mix of absurd and audacious. An individual or group in Bulgaria created a couple playlists, unimaginatively titled “Soulful Music” and “Music From the Heart.” The more successful of these, “Soulful Music,” was at its peak as the 35th most popular playlist in the world and the 11th biggest in the United States, even though it had a measly 1,797 followers and only about 1,200 monthly listeners.
The most probable explanation for all this is that someone or someones in Bulgaria set up 1,200 computers with premium Spotify accounts, then had them play the songs on “Soulful Music” constantly. While it would cost $12,000 to set up all those accounts, the payoff would be worth it.
The report estimates it would be possible to squeeze out at least 72 million plays of the songs out of those 1,200 accounts, which would be the equivalent of $288,000 each month. A little finagling of the playlists so each song played for the bare minimum of 30 seconds could up that number to north of 100 million plays, or about $415,000.
Source and more: https://www.inverse.com/article/41573-spotify-bulgarian-playlist-list-scam