Lawsuit alleges Spotify allows streaming fraud

A new lawsuit alleges streaming giant Spotify turns a blind eye to vast networks of bots that inflate streaming figures to benefit megastars such as Drake at the expense of lesser-known artists.

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DRAKE

The legal action, filed in a US federal court on Sunday, claims the Canadian rapper gets millions of dollars in revenue from such fake streams, while Spotify garners significant commercial value from appearing to have more users than it really does.

"This mass-scale fraudulent streaming causes massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters, producers and other rightsholders," says the lawsuit, filed by rapper RBX - Snoop Dogg's cousin.

Spotify uses a pro-rata model to pay artists from a central pot of income derived from subscriptions and advertising. Inflated streaming figures for high-profile performers would therefore diminish the proportion of money available for other artists.