On Spotify, hackers have managed to take possession of accounts to generate tens of thousands of fictitious wiretaps for the benefit of fake artists. Users were surprised to see mysterious pieces in their streaming history. They say they have never heard of the artists in question. It is the BBC website that reveals this story that has been confirmed by the platform itself.
A BBC investigation has focused on a strange phenomenon on Spotify. Users discovered at the end of 2018 that their history included pieces by artists they had never heard of. These songs have been able to get tens of thousands of listenings. The gains generated are estimated at several hundred euros. All the mysterious albums had several points in common, which suggests that behind this phenomenon lies the same person or group of people.
Fake artists have generated thousands of fictitious listenings on Spotify
They are called Bergenulo Five, Bratte Night, DJ Bruej or Doublin Night. These artists have albums that generated tens of thousands of listenings on Spotify at the end of 2018. At that time, many users complained about seeing mysterious songs and artist names in their "Top 2018 Titles" which reviewed the 100 most listened to songs during the year by each user.
Several people stated that they had been affected by the phenomenon and believed that it was evidence of widespread piracy of the service. The mysterious albums had several things in common: they had about forty short songs with little or no lyrics, the covers were made of a colored background with text in front, the song titles were mostly composed of only one word.
BBC claims to have researched the artists in question on the Internet. No trace of albums, songs or artists has been found, especially on social networks. However, these artists had managed to get several thousand listenings, which is still not given to anyone. For example, Bergenulu Five had a total of more than 60,000 listeners on Spotify, which corresponds to commissions of about $500 to $600.
Spotify has told BBC that it has deleted all artist accounts identified as fraudulent. However, the platform denies that it is responsible for the phenomenon it blames on a security breach linked to external authentication systems. The platform seems to point the finger at the Facebook authentication system. A major security breach was discovered in September 2018. It potentially affected 50 million accounts.
They are called Bergenulo Five, Bratte Night, DJ Bruej or Doublin Night. These artists have albums that generated tens of thousands of listenings on Spotify at the end of 2018. At that time, many users complained about seeing mysterious songs and artist names in their "Top 2018 Titles" which reviewed the 100 most listened to songs during the year by each user.
Several people stated that they had been affected by the phenomenon and believed that it was evidence of widespread piracy of the service. The mysterious albums had several things in common: they had about forty short songs with little or no lyrics, the covers were made of a colored background with text in front, the song titles were mostly composed of only one word.
BBC claims to have researched the artists in question on the Internet. No trace of albums, songs or artists has been found, especially on social networks. However, these artists had managed to get several thousand listenings, which is still not given to anyone. For example, Bergenulu Five had a total of more than 60,000 listeners on Spotify, which corresponds to commissions of about $500 to $600.
Spotify has told BBC that it has deleted all artist accounts identified as fraudulent. However, the platform denies that it is responsible for the phenomenon it blames on a security breach linked to external authentication systems. The platform seems to point the finger at the Facebook authentication system. A major security breach was discovered in September 2018. It potentially affected 50 million accounts.