Margie Barkley: What are Streaming Farms & Why Are they Controversial

The rise of streaming farms in recent years has been a major issue for online streaming. This controversial business model takes advantage of the constant search for more listeners and streams among artists.

It’s now easier for artists to climb the charts by purchasing fake streams.

We can imagine, without even mentioning this, the increase in revenues they receive due to royalties from all of these streams.

This is the main reason that some artists invest in fake streams.

Let’s take a deeper look at what streaming farms are and how they operate.

What is a streaming farm and how are they used?

Simply put, streaming farms consist of a number of devices such as computers or smartphones. They play music or a song to give the impression of many online listeners. These devices mimic human-like online listening and artificially boost streaming numbers.

This allows big labels and artists to fake their numbers and appear more popular on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music or SoundCloud. These artists can use this method to stay at the top of the charts, create hits and, in turn, make more money.

This raises a question: Are these labels and artists violating the principles of fairness in competition?

Stream farming is a practice that gives an unfair advantage to artists over smaller ones, who may lack the skills or desire to compete this way. The music of lesser-known artists could be left undiscovered.

Imagine that an artist spent a lot of time producing a high-quality piece of music. A song by another artist should be consumed the same way, but that artist uses a streaming farm in order to boost its popularity.

This higher number of streams influences streaming algorithms, which then recommends the song to real-life listeners and leaves the song by the other musician at the bottom. This can also lead to the listener being presented with music less relevant to their tastes.

In this way, streaming farms not only disrupt fair competition, but also affect the overall quality of listening for users.

Online streaming and fake streams: Cause and effect

The streaming services have played an important role in the survival and growth of the music business. The global revenue generated from the sale of physical music has dropped by 35% in the last decade.

According to music industry statistics, 65% of the revenue now comes from streaming platforms.

Most streaming platforms offer a free and a paid version. The platform makes money by charging monthly subscriptions for the paid versions, which are ad-free. The vast majority use the free version. To keep it free, you need to display advertisements.

The streaming platforms charge the same amount as social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube for the number ads shown.

The artists and other right holders who publish their works on Spotify or other popular streaming platforms are also on the other side. They get paid through streaming royalties. These are payments based on how many times their music has been streamed.

The more streams a musician’s music gets, the higher the royalties they will earn. This is where streaming farms come into play. These shady boosters are used by many artists to artificially boost their streaming numbers and revenues.

Are music streaming farms legal?

Here, we’ll be brief. Yes. They can cause harm to healthy analytics and can affect both advertising numbers as well as revenue streams for musicians.

Advertisers are still paying to play ads on streaming platforms for users who aren’t actually human. This results in inflated figures, an ineffective use by advertisers of their advertising budgets and inaccurate data.

A major problem is the fact that fake music listeners can be used by music labels and musicians to make money. Platforms like Spotify only pay $0.003 to $0.005 for each stream. However, thousands of fake listeners can easily be bought for less than $1.

Spotify’s Terms of Service prohibit the use of music streaming farms. This can lead to penalties, such as suspensions, legal actions, and damage done to an artist’s name. Artists who use streaming farms are stealing money from Spotify and other artists, as they will receive less payment.

Spotify and other streaming platforms are now including terms and condition to prevent bot streams. However, the industry must remain vigilant to avoid these fraudulent activities.

The controversy surrounding the streaming farm

The use of streaming farm has become a major controversy in the music industry. It raises ethical, legal, and financial concerns that require closer examination.

These fake streams, if undetected can distort the popularity of an artist and artificially boost their streaming numbers. It is damaging to the artists and the streaming platforms.

Streaming farms offer their services as marketing activities aimed at promoting the songs or albums of artists. Artists who use this method to increase their streaming numbers quickly gain popularity. The level of popularity is still debatable.

The fact that some of the streams come from bots is not something they can ignore. A high number of streams can also mean that the music is being recommended to actual listeners. It’s possible that the real listeners are not even aware of the fact that they like the song. They may have just been trapped in the loop.

Some artists and labels do not even give a damn about organic fans. They only care about the money they get from royalties. They are taking money from other musicians whose music is better, but suppressed due to fake numbers.

Streaming farms can have a number of negative effects.

Misrepresentation of audienceUnfair revenue distribution of royaltiesA distorted picture of the popularityIneffective advertising on streaming platformsUnethical competitionHarming streaming platforms’ credibilityManipulating trends in the music industry

In an era when online streaming is the dominant force in the music industry it is crucial that artists, labels and streaming platforms work together to combat fake streams and promote transparency, authenticity and fairness.

The future of stream agriculture

Music streaming platforms have revolutionized how we consume media. The number of streaming accounts (both free and paid) continues to grow in the music industry.

In 2022, for example, the global number of subscribers jumped from 616.2 to 616.22 million. This represents an increase of 93 millions from 2021. The digital streaming industry is expected to generate 65% of all revenue for the music industry in 2022, and reach 31.4 billion dollars by 2027.

There’s no question that streaming farms will attempt to keep up with this trend, and secure their own growth. The competition between artists to keep their top spots may intensify as the number of streaming platform listeners continues to increase. In this fierce competition for attention, it is likely that some artists will look to other ways to boost their streaming numbers.

The industry will be affected by even more negative effects. Artists are increasingly disappointed by the industry’s practices, which include misrepresenting audiences and popularity as well as distorting revenue distributions and manipulating trends.

It’s possible that it could also have a negative impact on the music we listen. Many of us would agree that it has already happened, particularly in the last decade.

Bottom Line

A streaming farm is essentially a collection of digital devices. Each device is linked to a separate account on one or several streaming platforms. These streaming bots play music 24 hours a day.

They manipulate charts and playlists and directly affect streaming numbers. It leads to unfair competition between artists and affects the discoverability of artists who do not use such tactics.

Fake listeners also generate higher revenue for labels and artists who engage in this fraudulent practice. This practice is not only a fraud on streaming platforms, but it also hurts the entire streaming music industry because the data are distorted and other artists do not get the exposure and recognition they deserve.

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What are Streaming Farms and why are they controversial? The first time this appeared on ClickCease Blog.