Why This Happens
Streaming services and their fraud-detection partners continuously scan for abnormal listening patterns. When a release shows signs of artificial streaming, the store can withhold its royalties, remove the release, or notify your distributor of a penalty. This can happen even if you did not knowingly buy fake streams, for example if a third-party "promotion" you paid for used bots.
What It Means for You
- The affected release may be removed from the store.
- Royalties tied to the flagged streams can be reversed or withheld.
- Some stores charge a fine for confirmed manipulation, which is passed on to the responsible account.
- Repeat cases can put your whole catalogue and account at risk.
What to Do
- Stop any active promotions immediately, especially anything that promised a set number of streams.
- Open a support ticket with the release name and links. We can share what the store reported.
- Provide context. If you used a marketing service, share the details so we can help identify whether it was the source.
- Do not repeat it. Re-uploading the same release without addressing the cause can lead to further action.
Preventing It Next Time
Only promote your music through legitimate channels and never pay for guaranteed streams, plays, or followers. See What Is Artificial (Fake) Streaming and Why Is It Dangerous? and What Marketing Support Does InterSpace Distribution Offer?