5 ms·

Seriously? According to the article, their only "proof" is that four criminals said "oh yeah I do this trust me bro". This qualifies as "investigative journalis

Seriously? According to the article, their only "proof" is that four criminals said "oh yeah I do this trust me bro". This qualifies as "investigative journalism" today?

zpeti 3y ago
Judging by the quality of journalism these days, yes this qualifies as investigative journalism.
- dageshi 3y ago
  People get the quality of journalism they pay for I guess...
Stagnant 3y ago
Saw this same article on a Finnish news site last week and it indeed feels like clickbait / bullshit reporting with no concrete proof of any of this happening.
styren 3y ago
In the Swedish coverage they also identified bot farms that are actively used for this purpose. So it's a bit more than hearsay.
- ansc 3y ago
  Bot farms is wildly different than money laundering.
  - lawlessone 3y ago
    Yeah it isn't clear how they are doing it. Are they using fake accounts with paid membership or free accounts? Both are ineficient but the latter is way more inefficient
    - styren 3y ago
      They are using bitcoin (dirty money) to buy Spotify plays (clean money)
- mjr00 3y ago
  Botted plays are definitely real, but not typically used like this. Typically the scam for botted plays is either someone straight up selling stream purchases i.e. "buy Spotify 10000 plays for $10" or using them to boost perceived legitimacy. You would do the latter with a typical label scam, where you contact someone on Soundcloud, saying you are XXX Record Label and you want to sign their track, linking to XXX Record Label's Spotify account which shows impressive play numbers. You "sign" the track but then request a $50 "mastering fee" from the artist before release. In either case, Spotify (usually, afaik) doesn't pay out for the actual botted streams, but it doesn't matter. The money is made by the scammer from the artist.
lawlessone 3y ago
>Seriously? According to the article, their only "proof" is that four criminals said "oh yeah I do this trust me bro". Same article mentions further down that the Police have also basically confirmed it is an issue but Spotify aren't acknowledging them.
- rockbruno 3y ago
  I couldn't find any official statement from the Swedish police about this case. The "proof" is once again that an "anonymous investigative police officer" said it and they assumed it to be true. I imagine that there might be some degree of truth to this story, but as it's written right now it's pure clickbait.

Seriously? According to the article, their only "proof" is that four criminals said "oh yeah I do this trust me bro". This qualifies as "investigative journalism" today?

zpeti 3y ago

Judging by the quality of journalism these days, yes this qualifies as investigative journalism.

dageshi 3y ago
People get the quality of journalism they pay for I guess...

Stagnant 3y ago

Saw this same article on a Finnish news site last week and it indeed feels like clickbait / bullshit reporting with no concrete proof of any of this happening.

styren 3y ago

In the Swedish coverage they also identified bot farms that are actively used for this purpose. So it's a bit more than hearsay.

ansc 3y ago
Bot farms is wildly different than money laundering.
- lawlessone 3y ago
  Yeah it isn't clear how they are doing it. Are they using fake accounts with paid membership or free accounts? Both are ineficient but the latter is way more inefficient
  - styren 3y ago
    They are using bitcoin (dirty money) to buy Spotify plays (clean money)
mjr00 3y ago
Botted plays are definitely real, but not typically used like this. Typically the scam for botted plays is either someone straight up selling stream purchases i.e. "buy Spotify 10000 plays for $10" or using them to boost perceived legitimacy. You would do the latter with a typical label scam, where you contact someone on Soundcloud, saying you are XXX Record Label and you want to sign their track, linking to XXX Record Label's Spotify account which shows impressive play numbers. You "sign" the track but then request a $50 "mastering fee" from the artist before release. In either case, Spotify (usually, afaik) doesn't pay out for the actual botted streams, but it doesn't matter. The money is made by the scammer from the artist.

lawlessone 3y ago

>Seriously? According to the article, their only "proof" is that four criminals said "oh yeah I do this trust me bro". Same article mentions further down that the Police have also basically confirmed it is an issue but Spotify aren't acknowledging them.

rockbruno 3y ago
I couldn't find any official statement from the Swedish police about this case. The "proof" is once again that an "anonymous investigative police officer" said it and they assumed it to be true. I imagine that there might be some degree of truth to this story, but as it's written right now it's pure clickbait.