What is Abnormal Stream Activity?
Abnormal stream activity is a growing threat to the music community. This is often realized in the form of deceptive advertisements for illegitimate music promotion services.
Third parties companies that guarantee playlist placements or a specific number of streams in exchange for compensation are most 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 complete removal of your catalog from streaming services.
At Venice, we work diligently to ensure releases are delivered on time and streams are legitimate, meaning they reflect genuine user listening intent. If Venice finds that you (or a third party company hired by you or on your behalf) have intentionally 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 and suspend services indefinitely.
If you’re in the market for a music promotion service, we recommend using the in-house marketing services offered directly by the streaming service or vetted services acknowledge by streaming services.
For more information, please reference the following articles:
https://artists.spotify.com/help/article/third-party-services-that-guarantee-streams