It is a plague. By “synthetically inflating the quantity of intake of several titles, we enhance the prestige as well as the economic value of an artist or a task”, knocked at the start of December the Union of independent French phonographic producers.
According to information from platforms (Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify) as well as representatives (Universal, Sony, Warner, Believe and also Wagram), the CNM develops that in France, in 2021, between 1 and also 3 billion streams, “at much less”, were incorrect, i.e. in between 1% and 3% of total amount plays.
It is “certain that the reality of incorrect streams surpasses what is detected, without it being possible to achieve a precise figure, because they do not enter the field of detection”, creates the head of state of the CNM, Jean-Philippe Thiellay.
The “numbers distributing in the media, much higher than 3%, are not based on any type of well-known and showed data, which does not allow us to contradict them”, adds the supervisor.
Some experts “have actually suggested that they are come close to directly by company offering their man-made stream rise deals and Deezer is seeing an increase in fraud identified in 2022”, he even more clarifies.
Virtually 6500 euros for a million streams
France Inter has gotten an email with rates from a firm which hence assures “100% French” streams, which “are not bots (virtual audiences, editor’s note) yet genuine individuals who listen to your titles”.
According to this radio, the rates displayed are: “129 euros for the pack of 10,000 to 20,000 streams, 1,039 euros for the pack of 100,000 to 150,000 streams as well as 6,499 euros for greater than one million streams”.
The CNM, for its research, collaborated with most of the gamers in the field. The body deplores however “that players such as Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube were not able or did not want to share their information according to the defined observation boundary, regardless of all the guarantees of discretion (given)”.
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The authority specifies the fraudulent adjustment of online plays as “the fabricated boost in the variety of views or plays, by robots or all-natural individuals, with the aim of generating earnings, enhancing the efficiency of a title in the charts and/or to guide a suggestion system (playlists, search)”.
” Stream farms (networked computer systems, Editor’s note), account hacks, the creativity of hackers is abundant and evolving” still regrets the CNM.
See you in 2024
All areas are concerned: hip-hop, pop/rock, classical, French tune or background music. Thoroughly, on Spotify and Deezer, “the large share of detected streams originates from hip-hop/rap: it’s quite logical because these are the most paid attention to genres (more than 50% of the leading 10,000 on Spotify as well as 40% on Deezer)”, still notes the CNM.
However, “contrasted to the complete number of pays attention to hip-hop/ rap titles, these fraudulent streams represent only a really small percentage, 0.4% on Spotify and also 0.7% on Deezer”.
In contrast, the share of streams spotted “as deceitful out of all listening of an offered genre is considerably greater for background music (4.8% on Deezer)”.
In the existing system of circulation of income from songs streaming– generally a typical pot divided in favor of the most listened to -, those “that inflate their paying attention numbers take out a share of compensation from all those who do not rip off”, examines the CNM.
To fight against this fraud is ahead up against a mistake: “in many cases, the enroller at the beginning of the ask for control of the streams will rarely be recognized and also recognizable”, acknowledges the National Center for Music.
The body recommends the growth of an “interprofessional charter for the prevention and battle versus the manipulation of on the internet eavesdropping”. The CNM will additionally carry out a brand-new research study in 2024.