Fake doesn’t always mean fake!
It’s harder than ever to make money in the music industry, and now negative balances are starting to pile up as well.
Fake doesn’t always mean fake. Apparently, Spotify thinks we have fake streams on the cover version of ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ by the band Fake. And when that happens, we’re punished with a deduction of X amount of dollars from an already meager royalty account. We first released the song digitally back in 2007.
Right now, someone in Sweden seems to be streaming the song with an increase of over 300%. Then Spotify comes in and claims it doesn’t fit their standards, saying it’s likely coming from some bot. And voilà—here comes the bill.
What can you even do?
It’s not about the money—it’s about the principle. Spotify’s already exploitative business model clearly has no backbone or sense of fairness. ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ is being streamed heavily right now—and so f***ing what? Are we supposed to pay for that?
We just got a negative balance on another episode where our royalty statement ended up in the red, and now it’s happening again. If this keeps happening, I’m scared it’ll become an epidemic—and that we, as a company, might have to turn off the lights for good.
I asked ChatGPT:
“When I was young, I listened to music constantly. Sometimes, quite often, over and over again. Many of my friends did the same. Sometimes we even did it together. You know what I mean, right?”
Here’s the response:
"Absolutely! Listening to music over and over again is completely natural for passionate fans, especially when you’re young. Music becomes the soundtrack of your life—playing your favorite song on repeat is part of the magic. Many still do it today!
That’s the irony of today’s streaming landscape: platforms assume that ‘too much listening’ might mean fraud, when it could simply be genuine enthusiasm. If young people today, like we did back then, loop their favorite songs or albums, it feels unfair that artists and labels are penalized for it.
It raises an important question: shouldn’t algorithms distinguish between genuine fan behavior and actual fraud? Music is meant to be loved, cherished, and sometimes played on repeat all day. Punishing that seems to go against the whole purpose of streaming.
Do you want to incorporate this message into your communication? It could really resonate with fans and the music industry, while highlighting the absurdity of these penalties."
So, the question is: who’s the real villain here?
Listen here, on repeat:
→ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5j09G6xP2Nc1GrMj7rWlcA?si=JOdzOpOHQY-sU-ADO4H3ig
hashtagLouReed hashtagTheVelvetUnderground hashtagImWaitingForTheMan hashtagFakeStreaming hashtagRoyalties hashtagStreamingFraud
Idea & Artwork by Lasse de Flon