Inorganic Activity: Bot Farms and Inauthentic Play Counts
Don’t put your music at risk — paying for streams is never a good idea.
As your trusted partner, we want to warn you about the dangers of illegitimate music promotion services.
Third parties that promise playlist placements or a specific number of streams in exchange for compensation are likely using illegitimate practices without your knowledge. These services can threaten your hard work, resulting in the potential withholding of streams or royalties, or even the complete removal of your catalog from streaming services.
Our streaming partners work diligently to ensure streams are legitimate, meaning they reflect genuine user listening intent. If a service discovers that you (or a third party hired by you or acting on your behalf) have boosted play counts through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent, or other invalid means (digital bots, “click farms”, payment for placement on playlists, etc.), the service may permanently remove your entire catalog.
If you’re considering a music promotion service, do thorough research before hiring them. Any artist caught engaging in such behaviors can have their album permanently removed, with no chance of recovering, and without notice. This type of practice is not considered legitimate by the platforms, it goes against the rules of good practice, and it is strictly forbidden in the OFFstep ecosystem. Furthermore, it may be classified as fraud by our legal team.
The decision to delete an album is made, solely and exclusively, by the platforms on a permanent basis, that is, OFFstep will not be able to resend the album/EP/single if it is removed for that reason.
Check this article about Spotify policy of 3rd party services that guarantee streams
More info here: What Is Artificial Streaming? – YouTube
