Spotify’s New Metrics Rocks the Streaming Landscape

Spotify has begun clamping down the streaming numbers of songs across various genres.

The move reportedly started in February 2025 and has continued to this day, sparking concern throughout the music community.

The reductions have reportedly affected multiple African and American artists as they have seen streams deducted from their songs.

While the company has not issued a public explanation, there may be several possible reasons behind the reductions:

1. Elimination of Artificial Streams

It is an open secret that some artists and record labels rely on bots and streaming farms to inflate the streaming numbers of an artist’s songs. This is a growing concern for Spotify, so much so that in 2023, they revised their company policies to “better support those most dependent on streaming revenues as part of their livelihood.” Part of that commitment is “detecting, preventing, and removing the royalty impact of artificial streaming.”

With the formation of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance and the utilization of novel technology to detect fake streams, the company will now be fining labels and distributors per track when there is even a slight detection of the use of bots and streaming farms to boost streams.

This policy took effect in April 2024.

1. Equity in Payout Structure

Spotify contributes over $60 billion to the music industry, and that revenue goes to various actors such as emerging and professional artists, record labels, and distributors.

The streaming giant hosts over 100 million tracks, with many receiving a few streams per month that generate about $0.03 in revenue per track. Due to minimum withdrawal thresholds imposed by labels and distributors–and additional bank charges–these small payments often never reach the emerging artists. In total, these seemingly minute payments amount to roughly $40 million annually, a sum that could have been put to good use by emerging artists who rely heavily on royalties as their source of livelihood.

The adjustment is likely geared towards making sure that artists–especially the emerging ones–receive fair compensation. Now, “tracks must have reached at least 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months in order to generate recorded royalties.” According to the company, they will not be making any additional profits from this novel model.

1. Industry and Regulatory Pressure

With increased scrutiny from the music industry, legal practitioners, and regulatory bodies, Spotify may be preemptively modifying its metrics and policies to align more closely with industry standards and legal expectations. Apart from being stained with allegations of encouraging fake streams, the platform has been accused of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create fake artist profiles to generate false revenues.

Thus, the reduction in streaming numbers could serve to fortify the platform against claims of fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation and unfair artist compensation.

As Spotify navigates this transition, the platform will likely face increased calls for transparency regarding its methodology. For now, the clamp down continues and sparks conversations about the broader challenges of digitalization of the music industry: balancing accurate, robust data analysis with fairness and sustainability for creators.