Spotify has implemented new measures to address the issue of artificial streaming and improve fairness in royalty payments to artists. Read Spotify’s communication here.
In this article, we will explore in detail how these penalties affect platform users and how Sepulchral Silence is facilitating the management of this process.
How do Spotify penalties work?
Penalties are applied each time it's detected that a song has received fraudulent plays, whether through the use of bots or other non-organic practices. For each track with over 90% artificial streaming, Spotify will apply a penalty of €10 per month.
It's important to note that these fees are not set by Sepulchral Silence but directly by Spotify as part of their efforts to maintain the integrity of their platform.
Management of penalties from Sepulchral Silence
In our Service Agreement, provisions are stipulated for managing these processes to comply with the new measures implemented by Spotify, considering the possibility that other DSPs may also adopt similar practices.
Given these changes, we will provide each client with all the necessary information to be aware of these penalties. Additionally, penalties imposed by Spotify will be included in service invoices, separate from confirmations.
This means that any penalties received from Spotify will be reflected in your next billing cycle.
I'm not responsible for my users' Artificial Streaming, what can I do?
A recommendation we can make, based on the experience of other clients, is to notify end-users about this new Spotify policy. Additionally, add that, if any penalties are applied to their content, these will be deducted from their generated royalties.
When making payment to a user with penalties, you can charge them from their royalties and indicate it in the user payment notification (Manage>Payments section).
How does Spotify detect artificial streaming?
Spotify uses advanced analysis systems to detect suspicious playback patterns, such as the use of bots or click farms. For more details on their policy against artificial streaming, you can consult this article: Artificial Streaming.
If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, feel free to contact your Account Manager or support@sepulchralsilence.com