May 8, 2024

Music? Farms? How do these two things relate to each other? Well…they don’t, exactly. A streaming farm is a recent creation where mass quantities of cell phones or devices are gathered and made to play certain songs on repeat in order to earn money for an artist. This raises the number of streams artificially in order to make the songs seem more popular than they really are. This is a very common practice, especially with large artists who have deals with the monopolized industry giants. The practice is stealing directly from smaller artists who may never gain the fame they normally could have because the numbers are lies—leading to them being overshadowed by algorithms and back door deals. 

Before streaming services there was a proprietary method called a “payola” in which artists would pay a DJ or radio host to play their song repeatedly throughout the day in order to make it popular

Now, however, the radio has fallen as the main way to listen to music. With phones in everyone’s pockets and whatever song you want to hear when you want to hear it in the palm of your hand, music labels saw a new opportunity which seriously threatens the validity and ethics of the already-corrupted music industry. So, of course, they took it. Music has quickly become nothing more than a profit focused business that only wants royalties and absurdly priced concert tickets. Music has lost its way. Legendary bands reached world fame from the quality and originality of their music, but nowadays it’s all behind the curtains. 

While streaming farms are illegal and against the terms of service on most platforms, they can be hard to combat: It only costs around $1 per thousand artificial plays. Labels are panicking as they lose control. 

Some independent artists have been able to make it huge against all odds since people have access to listen to anything they want. It doesn’t take a label to get you into radio stations or to handle distribution. Do you ever see an artist on Spotify that hasn’t been famous or had a Hot 100 song since the early 2000s but they still get millions of monthly listeners? More likely than not they are using streaming farms to cruise through retirement and raise their numbers. Streaming farms aren’t just used for big artists either: Some people post their own short “songs” and then make streaming farms to give themselves plays, earning money as a side hustle even though they aren’t musicians. 

When it comes to the validity of the industry, there isn’t much. Independent artists will continue to navigate the evolving dynamics of the industry and find ways to get their music heard and accrue fame. Sadly, streaming farms probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but more things can be done to control them and make it more difficult to earn money from them. 

Streaming has been a blessing and a curse to the industry. It has allowed for so many more artists to gain the fame they deserve but it also allows for faulty streams and algorithm manipulation. 

Next time you notice an artist who has an oddly high amount of plays, realize that they’re probably fake. 

Believe nothing.