Spotify will find out if a top producer has bought streams.
Rasmus Gozzi is accused of manipulating the number of times songs are played. PDO
The streaming numbers of songs on Spotify are now in the exact same range in Sweden. Streamings, plays, bring their creators both income and visibility when popular songs climb the charts and end up on different playlists.
Now in Sweden, the investigation work regarding streaming has started. The finger of blame points towards the producer Rasmus Gozzi. This is reported by Aftonbladet.
The songs produced by Rasmus have been played on Spotify more than half a billion times, which is a lot, when the artists are relatively unknown. The readings got Musikindustri interested in the readings already in August.
Rasmus has produced, for example, songs by Fröken Snuski, who is participating in the Swedish five-a-side qualifiers.
Fröken Snuski’s song Gynecologist bounce up and down the charts at the end of the year. One day it collected 40,000 listens, the next day 184,000, and it became number one on Spotify in Sweden. The next day, the ranking fell 79 places, and on Boxing Day, the song collected 135,000 streams, reaching number two.
Fröken Snusk is aiming for a place as Sweden’s Eurovision representative. PDO
Ifpi, which is responsible for the Swedish music charts, removed two songs by Rasmus and Fröken Snuski from their charts after suspicions arose. Songs have also been removed from Spotify. CEO of Ifp Ludwig Werner tells Dagens Nyheter that the number of calls is not what it normally is.
According to Spotify, the manipulation of play times is a challenge for the entire industry and they are actively trying to solve the problems.
Fröken Snusk is one of Sweden’s top five candidates this year. Expressen insists in its editorial his removal from Melodifestivalen.