Spotify has introduced new policies that affect how content is monetized on their platform, which may lead to significant changes in your earnings report. If you notice any anomalies in your earnings reports, this could be due to reported artificial streaming or the new monetization rules set by services like Spotify.

This guide provides an overview of how stores like Spotify are changing their rules and how you can align yourself accordingly. Please feel free to share any feedback or issues with us.

Artificial Streaming #

Artificial streaming is when artists artificially increase the number of plays or sales of music to make it seem more popular and earn more money. This often happens through third parties that offer to get you a certain number of streams for a fee. Using these services can harm your work, leading to your streams or earnings being withheld or even having your music removed from streaming platforms entirely.

It is also possible that leaving a track, an album, or a playlist looping for a long time might be counted as artificial streaming.

As your distributor, Boomkit is not notified in advance if a music service deems some of your plays to be artificial. We also are not informed about the criteria used by these services to determine what is artificial versus genuine user engagement. However, we believe that if you have paid a third party to generate plays, there is a high risk that these plays will be deemed artificial, which could result in penalty fees or other sanctions.

• What happens if my music is included in artificial streaming reports?

If streams of your music are flagged as artificial in the reports we receive from a music store, we will inform you. The report will detail the number of streams identified as artificial by the music store.

The music store will exclude those streams from royalty calculations, potentially resulting in deductions from future royalties. Continuous artificial activity could lead to partial or complete removal of your songs from streaming platforms entirely.

• What can I do as an Artist?

Before your next release, discuss approved promotion and marketing opportunities with us. You can reach us at support@boomkit.me or through the live chat on the Boomkit app.

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the terms of service and policies of major music streaming platforms. Understand what constitutes artificial streaming and the potential consequences for you as an artist, label, or user involved.

Thoroughly research any potential marketing and promotion partners. Only collaborate with reliable organizations, and ensure that no one you work with uses bots or other similar tactics to artificially increase streams.

• Spotify’s Artificial Streaming Fee

Spotify may levy a fee on Boomkit for any track where artificial streams account for more than 90% of its total streams. This fee is €10 (₦17,476) per track per month.

If fines are applied to tracks you have distributed via Boomkit, we will deduct these penalty fees from your monthly payments. We will only deduct fines from the specific partners who supplied the tracks subject to the fines we are charged.

Spotify’s new Monetisation Rules #

Beginning in 2024, Spotify introduced new policies that affect the way content is monetized on their platform. Spotify explains track monetization eligibility in more detail here.

*Note: Monetization refers to a track’s ability to earn revenue from streams, while demonetization means the track will not have the ability to earn revenue.

• Spotify Noise Content

Spotify pays a reduced royalty rate for noise content, which is defined as “all non-music, non-spoken-word audio,” such as nature or machine sounds.

For noise content to earn royalties, it must be longer than two minutes.

If you have noise content under 2 minutes and want to update the audio files please get in touch using support@boomkit.me

• Spotify Unqualified Streams

Spotify will only pay revenue for tracks of any genre if they have received at least 1,000 streams from a minimum of 50 unique listeners within the past 12 months. This means that Spotify will not pay you if your track does not meet this threshold.

Detailed information by Spotify here – https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/track-monetization-eligibility/
We will share reports with you labelled as ‘Spotify Unqualified Tracks’ if your tracks fall into this category.

Appeals and Questions #

If you wish to contest your tracks being listed in these reports, please email support@boomkit.me with the affected ISRCs and a brief explanation.

For any questions, feel free to reach out to us at support@boomkit.me