It’s no shock that streaming numbers, charts and playlists are manipulated on a regular basis at the moment. This phenomenon of dishonest was highlighted particularly in the course of the Kendrick-Drake beef, the place botting allegations proceed to solid doubt on artist repute other than straight up financial revenue.
Addressing the issue as a fairness-first platform, Apple Music has come out with elevated penalties in the direction of such fraudulent exercise. Again in 2023, Apple Music had already claimed to have diminished these practices by 30% after having imposed penalties only a 12 months earlier than.
A dialog The Hollywood Reporter had with Apple Music’s platform chief Oliver Schusser reveals that fines had been being imposed on a sliding scale, the place penalty ranged from 5% to 25%. Now, after having doubled the imposition, the penalty is wherever between 10% to 50%.
The report even breaks it down in less complicated phrases, stating that “…in layman’s phrases, if you happen to have interaction in streaming fraud amounting to say, $1 million, you’d be fined a most $500,000.” And naturally, the fraudulent streams won’t be eligible for monetisation.
“It is a zero-sum sport,” says Schusser. “I wish to stay in a world the place we have now zero fraud on the platform, and this has been a really efficient software. Rising the penalties takes the cash from people who find themselves dishonest and places it again into the system for individuals who aren’t.” The brand new sanctions appear to be a step in the best path — what do you assume?
