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Spotify Has A Problem With Fake Rappers
Spotify Has A Problem With Fake Rappers
Spotify recently removed the music of an artist named Lil Kambo. The reason for removing the music could be because Lil Kambo doesn't exist and never did. But that didn't stop him from racking up over 2 million streams of his song "Kid Carti" which is actually a pitched shifted leak of Playboi Carti’s yet-unreleased track “Kid Cudi” The fraudulent track garnered enough streams to top U.S. Viral 50 chart on the music streaming platform.
The similar artists tab on Lil Kambo's artist page revealed even more impersonators. Some even using promo photos of the rappers whose tracks they were stealing. Searching the same artist names on Apple Music revealed even more leaked tracks. Most are distributed through Distrokid, a subscription based platform that allows artists to upload unlimited tracks to Spotify on demand.
Although common on Youtube and Soundcloud, leaks like this appaear to be a growing trend on monetized platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Rumours of a new SZA album surfacing in December last year turned out to be leaks of older unreleased music. Comethru was uploaded to Apple Music and Spotify on December 4, credited to “Sister Solana,” and released on a label called Scissor. The nine-track record appeared to feature verses from Kendrick Lamar, who was billed as “King Kenny.” SZA confirmed on her Instagram that the album was a leak. In march a collection of Rihanna songs iTunes debuted at #67 on iTunes completely without the artist's knowledge or permission.
The CEO of Spotify has stated that roughly 40,000 new songs are uploaded to the service every 24 hours. It is unclear what, if anything, is stopping users from uploading unauthorized music and what is done to handle payments for fraudulent streams. A distrokid user who goes by the name “Unocompac,” went as far as to link his Twitter and Instragram account with over 117,000 followers where he promotes new leaks.
Spotify recently removed the music of an artist named Lil Kambo. The reason for removing the music could be because Lil Kambo doesn't exist and never did. But that didn't stop him from racking up over 2 million streams of his song "Kid Carti" which is actually a pitched shifted leak of Playboi Carti’s yet-unreleased track “Kid Cudi” The fraudulent track garnered enough streams to top U.S. Viral 50 chart on the music streaming platform.
The similar artists tab on Lil Kambo's artist page revealed even more impersonators. Some even using promo photos of the rappers whose tracks they were stealing. Searching the same artist names on Apple Music revealed even more leaked tracks. Most are distributed through Distrokid, a subscription based platform that allows artists to upload unlimited tracks to Spotify on demand.
Although common on Youtube and Soundcloud, leaks like this appaear to be a growing trend on monetized platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Rumours of a new SZA album surfacing in December last year turned out to be leaks of older unreleased music. Comethru was uploaded to Apple Music and Spotify on December 4, credited to “Sister Solana,” and released on a label called Scissor. The nine-track record appeared to feature verses from Kendrick Lamar, who was billed as “King Kenny.” SZA confirmed on her Instagram that the album was a leak. In march a collection of Rihanna songs iTunes debuted at #67 on iTunes completely without the artist's knowledge or permission.
The CEO of Spotify has stated that roughly 40,000 new songs are uploaded to the service every 24 hours. It is unclear what, if anything, is stopping users from uploading unauthorized music and what is done to handle payments for fraudulent streams. A distrokid user who goes by the name “Unocompac,” went as far as to link his Twitter and Instragram account with over 117,000 followers where he promotes new leaks.
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