Again, not really surprised but actually I am. Spotify has always allowed fake streams. It's hilarious as they try to stop it, even though the actors have already made their money and closed it.
I have been on the free plan for a few years and finally upgraded to VIP, and I use a Nvidia Shield box with Umbrella as the app. Before the upgrade all of my saved content was in there. Once upgraded, it is gone, but not on the app or the web version. I revoked auth several times and still no go. Any suggestions ?
Not surprised, being that these AI generators can pump out a fully complete track in, what, three to five minutes? I don't know. There are a lot of lazy wanna be musicians out there based on the uploads.
Spotify Faces Expanded ‘Undisclosed Filtering Practices’ Lawsuit from Artist and Attorney
This is something worth talking about. Especially if you believe that you are or ever will gain traction on Spotify. You will not. I teach my clients this in my courses like Day 1. Spotify has always been the bane of the industry. They succeeded in demonizing artists value into less than a penny. I am glad that artists are fighting back by proving the "hidden truth" that's been going on all along. If you're not a Major, you dont matter on Spotify. I will share a few paragraphs of the article.
Artist and attorney Mark Kratter just recently submitted a bolstered action and doubled down on his demand for an injunction as well as an expedited discovery process.
As we previously reported, Kratter in late May accused the DSP of employing “opaque rules and undisclosed filtering criteria” to boost major label catalogs at the expense of indies. His initial suit specifically alleged a March 2026 “streaming and recommendation system” change on the platform.
The alleged pivot “altered how streams, saves, playlist additions, Radio plays, Autoplay sessions, and algorithmic sessions were counted and credited toward an artist’s performance metrics,” according to the text.
Throw in an existing 1,000-stream royalty-accrual minimum, and in practice, this all fueled a material listenership and compensation falloff, per Kratter, who cited his catalog’s own consumption metrics as proof. Spotify didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Man, back in the day I used to send demos to labels and got the same response every time. "It's not what we're looking for at this time."
It was never about how good the music was. It was just their opinion.
That's why I started my own label in 2015.
After 20 years I've realized emotional pressure isn't just industry rejection. It's everything in your life hitting you at once — and still finding the energy to make music anyway.
Some of my best songs came from my worst moments. (breakups mostly, lol) The music was never the product. It was the medicine. The heal.
You have to love this enough to keep going after one like. After no likes. After rejection number 47, 447, or 4,447.
That's the filter. The real talent.
So the real question is — can you keep making music when everything around you says stop?
A record producer in LA said something that I haven't been able to shake.
He said the biggest myth in music is that success depends on exposure. It doesn't. It depends on whether your body can handle being unseen longer than you expected.
The ability to create when numbers drop. To write when no one cares. To perform after rejection number forty-seven. Or four hundred and forty-seven.
He called it the real industry filter — consistency under emotional pressure.
Not talent. Not looks. Not luck.
After 20 years working in this industry, I'll add my own truth to that: nobody told me I was never going to get rich from music. When I finally accepted that — something shifted. I stopped creating from desperation and started creating from identity.
That's when things actually started building.
The artists I've watched quit weren't the ones without talent. They were the ones who lost self-trust before the industry even had a chance to catch up to them.
What's the moment that almost broke you — and what kept you going?