Amuse presents feature to help DIY artists fight artificial streams 09 Jul 2024
Stream Check takes the pulse of Amuse-distributed catalog to indicate streaming health
Streaming fraud is one of the greatest challenges facing today’s music industry. Detailed streaming data can be difficult to access as well as interpret, so legitimate artists often have no way of knowing if their music is being streamed by bots until it is removed from DSPs. Equipping artists with the resources to fight artificial streams proactively, data-driven artist services company Amuse introduces Stream Check, an industry-first to increase data transparency and identify fraudulent streaming.
“While there are plenty of bad actors who systemize streaming fraud, artificial streaming can also happen to artists who haven’t done anything at all. An artist may cluelessly use a third-party promotion partner who turns out to be a bad choice, or legitimate tracks are added to a third-party playlist that utilizes bots without artists knowing, but the artist faces the penalties,” says Amuse Interim Chief Product Officer Erik Söderblom. “Amuse is proud to offer artists a proactive solution that puts them in the driver’s seat with all the tools they need to monitor and protect their catalog and livelihood.”
Stream Check takes a nuanced approach to artificial streaming, educating artists about its consequences. While other distributors have adopted a reactionary strike system, or even monetized the possibility to reupload taken down music, Amuse offers a proactive alternative: a colorful catalog health bar that indicates what share of an artist’s streams were deemed artificial by Spotify during the last month.
If an artist’s Stream Check dashboard shows no artificial activity, they don’t need to take any action. On the other hand, a health bar in orange or red territory indicates that streaming fraud is taking place and that the artist is at risk of facing fines or seeing their music removed from DSPs. Luckily, Amuse also provides a knowledge base of proactive actions these artists can take against the artificial streams to eliminate these risks and restore their catalog’s health.
“As a particularly data-focused company, Amuse has spent years building an internal system to prevent streaming fraud and collecting monthly Spotify Withheld Streams reports. Thanks to all of this groundwork, we developed the Stream Check feature in a matter of weeks,” explains Louise Frodsham, Director of Customer Operations at Amuse. “We are thrilled to unveil this feature to all artists who distribute their music through Amuse, and we look forward to continuing to educate and surface data that empowers them to fight this industry-wide problem.”
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THE HEADLINES
Ministers reconsider changes to UK copyright law ahead of vote (see News)
How Ticketmaster swallowed the live entertainment scene (see Features)
Spotify executive on why 'per-stream rate' is one of the most misleading metrics in music (see Opinion)
BPI responds to government’s proposed amendments to the Data Bill related to AI and copyright (see News)
‘AI and intellectual property — a pivotal moment for the UK’s creative industries’ (see Opinion)
BPI's new Yearbook reveals Country music's surging popularity (see News)
How Live Nation calls the tune for the live music industry (see Features)
How economic volatility will impact US labels’ fandom monetisation push (see Comment)
Spotify is said to be raising its subscription prices across Europe and Latin America (see Digital)
Culture Secretary to review the Music Export Growth Scheme (see News)
The music industry wants solutions. But do listeners see problems? (see Comment)
The next generation of independent music tastemakers (see Features)
BPI survey confirms music consumers believe human creativity is fundamental to music (see Reports)
Eight UK cities join forces for 'Music Fans Voice' survey (see Reports)