The greatest successes sometimes hide dark stories. In the 2010s, Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon became juggernauts of the music industry, and now we have to deal with them. Proof of their success, in 2021, the Victoires de la Musique are inaugurating a new category: most streamed title. During the ceremony, Romain Vivien, their president, underlines that “the way of discovering and consuming music” is evolving. He adds: “Today, streaming represents around 60% of the market. It seemed essential to us that the Victoires be in line with this mode of consumption.
This world is that of streaming platforms. Since their arrival, the music industry has had to rethink everything. And, in this world, one number really counts: the number of plays per song. Figures that the National Music Center (CNM) scrutinizes carefully. According to the annual report of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Ifpi) published this year, in 2022, the number of listens represents 67% of the music market share. Worldwide, 589 million people have a Deezer, Spotify or Apple Music subscription, including some 16 million French people.
But there you have it, certain figures attract attention. The CNM then decided to stick its nose into the platform business. In January, a report revealed a hidden business. Trafficking would be rampant in this dematerialized world: artists, labels, small scammers of all kinds would buy streams. In the studio corridors, rumors are rife. And suspicions about who would buy fake wiretaps or not are a constant background noise.
It is rumored that 90% of French rappers would engage in this type of acquisition. It must be said that the game is worth the effort. A little nudge and Spotify’s algorithm enters a track into one of its 175 playlists. Once he has joined the list, it is easier to be spotted by the public. And, according to some, purchasing streams on Deezer, Spotify or Apple Music is a common practice.
“You can’t buy taste, but you can buy streams and views,” raps Alpha Wann in 2018 in his track La Lumière dans le noir. In February 2022, Booba shared in an Instagram story an excerpt of a conversation with Vald, another rapper. The “Duke of Boulogne” wrote to him: “First week, in three days you make 51,000 sales. This week in three days you make 4800 sales. (…) Can you explain to us? from 51 to 4?! It’s about dosing.” Between two barely veiled threats, the French rap heavyweight accuses Vald of buying fake plays on music streaming platforms.
In France, according to the National Union of Phonographic Edition (Snep), streaming platforms have accumulated 11 billion streams in 2022. A titanic figure compared to the 16 million physical albums (CDs and vinyls) sold during the same period. These billions of streams are particularly lucrative. According to Snep, in 2022, subscription streaming will be worth 426 million euros and “remains by far the leading source of income from recorded music and the growth lever” of the sector.
In 2019, Maxime, barely an adult, smelled the right thing. He does well with computers. Thanks to his skills, he begins to sell streams to artists in need of listening or to labels who want to boost the notoriety of their projects a little. “It’s like downloading a movie illegally. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to find us,” says the young man. While he remains discreet about his former clients, Maxime explains that 90% of them “did French rap. I also had artists from South America.” Above all, according to him, many record companies use this mechanism. “From what I’ve seen, I estimate that 70% to 75% of labels use people like me to generate fake streams. Of course, they don’t all do it on the same scale, says Maxime. On a platform, if the title or album of a little-known artist generates 1 to 2 million views in a week, it’s doctored.”
At Deezer, the scam is however well known. The French streaming platform’s teams looked into the issue of fake streams around ten years ago. “In 2013, we integrated the ban on manipulating audiences into our general conditions of use,” explains Thibault Roucou, head of the royalties and reporting department. In his office in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, Ludovic Pouilly, director of institutional relations and music industry at Deezer, proudly displays graphs and tables. A mass of data supposed to attest to the effectiveness of in-house algorithms. “Today, we have a team of fifteen people working on this subject,” he announces. The platform shared its figures with the National Music Center.
In 2021, Deezer reported approximately 2.6% fraudulent listening. A figure increased to almost 7% today. “This increase can be explained simply because we detect fake streams better,” explains Ludovic Pouilly. Elsewhere, the numbers rarely exceed 2% and, again, the framework explains this by detection methods that are still in their infancy. “A few years ago, I wanted to launch a consultation with other platforms. But I had the impression that no team was working on the subject, he admits. Today, the rights holders tell me that Spotify has rather sophisticated tools and that the others have gotten started.” In the absence of a reliable measurement tool, some industry experts estimate that the share of false tapping flirts with 30%.
Little by little, market players are stepping up to the plate. The reason is simple: buying fake wiretaps is illegal. In its study, the CNM specifies that these cause a “market distortion”. “Fraudulent streams disrupt the algorithmic profiles of artists” and tarnish their image, notes the CNM. Furthermore, criminal liability may be incurred. Fake streams constitute fraud on several counts. And, depending on the reason given by the French judicial authorities, the fraudster can be sentenced to prison or a fine of a few tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of euros. To date, no court decision has been issued. Because we still have to catch the crooks.
A quick internet search gives an idea of how easy it is to buy streams. Dozens of sites offer to boost audiences for a handful of euros. Thomas, in his early twenties, meets us by video on Google Meet. During the twenty-five minutes of interview he gives us, we will not see his face. Just his business logo. He is at the origin of the site Boostium.fr, one of the countless obscure sites that sells streams on Spotify, followers on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. The facade is attractive, but upon closer inspection, we notice some spelling mistakes and inconsistencies.
» READ ALSO –
In 2018, he set up his showcase because he considered it “important to help young artists get started”. A desire displayed on the interface. “A lot of listeners on Spotify will find your sounds if they have a lot of plays. So you understand the importance of buying streams and plays on Spotify,” we read on the tab dedicated to the Swedish streaming platform. For 1000 listens, count 7 euros, for 5000, you will have to pay 29 euros, for 25,000 every month, the site offers a monthly subscription at 89 euros.
Thomas brushes aside the illegality of his services. “It doesn’t matter, we don’t sell bad merchandise,” he defends himself. The “stream dealer” estimates selling on average between 50,000 and 100,000 fake streams per month. “Orders are made in small quantities, the majority buy 1000 or 5000 streams, just to stand out,” he says.
According to the lawyer specializing in new technology law, Pierre-Xavier Chomiac de Sas, “on the internet, illegal sites are difficult to regulate”. Above all, the web police have other fish to fry; child pornography, the sale of arms and radical Islamism are the priorities of the authorities. The fake eavesdropping business comes second. And, as “in much trafficking, the method is based on a complex criminal network,” recalls Pierre-Xavier Chomiac de Sas. Each link in the chain has very limited knowledge of this network, and certain actors may be deep in Israel, Russia or Palestine, where the question of the legality of streams arises less than in countries targeted, often in Europe or the United States.”
To read also Nina Simone and Klaus Nomi, these disappeared so present in streaming
On the platform side, the image damage is significant. “They must be transparent and reliable towards the consumer and the artist,” recalls Pierre-Xavier Chomiac of Sas.
Last January, Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers) filed a complaint against X for fraud. Each year the organization collects 15% of the platforms’ turnover from copyright. “Including film music, we pay around 500 million euros per year to artists,” explains David El Sayegh, its deputy general director.
However, the phenomenon of fake streams confuses the fair distribution of copyright. “We would like a regulatory framework to govern this market,” calls for David El Sayegh. The management company intends to coordinate with other players in the industry to create an organization to control these digital abuses. But this would also require tuning in with the giants of the sector. Let those interested rest easy: as long as there is streaming, there will be deals.
On music streaming platforms, a stream is counted from thirty seconds of listening. It’s not just artists dreaming of being famous who commit fraud. In February 2018, the scam of a Bulgarian hacker was unmasked. Spotify executives notice that two playlists about which they know nothing are placed in 22nd position in the American charts.
By dissecting the two lists, they found that they consisted of 500 titles of thirty seconds each. Both lists were created in October 2017, the musical quality is mediocre and, above all, looking at the streams, Spotify managers notice that they are listened to in a loop 24 hours a day by 1200 accounts.
Also readHow AI threatens the music industry
In a few months, this never-unmasked hacker will have earned $1 million. This is how Spotify discovers that scammers are using its platform for a business that has nothing to do with music. This will then allow it to update its conditions of use.