CarderPlanet
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Criminals and their accomplices among rappers created tracks and promoted them for "dirty" money on the most popular streaming service Spotify. The proceeds from the auditions were returned back to the organized crime groups.
Four former members of Swedish organized crime groups, as well as police officials, spoke to Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) on condition of anonymity about an unusual money laundering scheme related to violent crimes.
The proceeds received from drug deals, contract murders and robberies were converted into cryptocurrency, and these funds were used to launch streams on the Swedish Spotify platform through fake artists.
Most of the financial transactions took place through performers in the gangsta rap genre. The creators of the stream received a reward from auditions, and the money went back to the organized crime groups.
"Spotify has turned into an ATM for bandits," the investigator told reporters.
At the same time, the music platform assured AFP that "less than 1% of all streams on Spotify were found to be fake, that is, artificially generated," adding that any manipulations with the numbers "are promptly eliminated before the start of payments."
According to SvD, a million streams brings in between 40,000 and 60,000 kronor in Sweden, which is roughly 3,450 to 5,180 euros.
Spotify's royalties system was recently criticized for allowing users to cheat the system instead of sending money to real artists.
JPMorgan executives estimate that 10% of all streams on the platform are generated by robots, and authors can earn $ 1,200 (1,140 euros) a month by listening to their own songs on repeat.
This was first reported in the Financial Times last month, but Spotify CEO Daniel Ek denied the allegations.
The Spotify website says: "Contrary to what you may have heard, Spotify does not pay royalties in accordance with the rate per play or per stream. The amount of royalties that artists receive may vary depending on differences in the way their music is streamed or agreements made with labels or distributors."
Four former members of Swedish organized crime groups, as well as police officials, spoke to Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) on condition of anonymity about an unusual money laundering scheme related to violent crimes.
The proceeds received from drug deals, contract murders and robberies were converted into cryptocurrency, and these funds were used to launch streams on the Swedish Spotify platform through fake artists.
Most of the financial transactions took place through performers in the gangsta rap genre. The creators of the stream received a reward from auditions, and the money went back to the organized crime groups.
"Spotify has turned into an ATM for bandits," the investigator told reporters.
At the same time, the music platform assured AFP that "less than 1% of all streams on Spotify were found to be fake, that is, artificially generated," adding that any manipulations with the numbers "are promptly eliminated before the start of payments."
According to SvD, a million streams brings in between 40,000 and 60,000 kronor in Sweden, which is roughly 3,450 to 5,180 euros.
Spotify's royalties system was recently criticized for allowing users to cheat the system instead of sending money to real artists.
JPMorgan executives estimate that 10% of all streams on the platform are generated by robots, and authors can earn $ 1,200 (1,140 euros) a month by listening to their own songs on repeat.
This was first reported in the Financial Times last month, but Spotify CEO Daniel Ek denied the allegations.
The Spotify website says: "Contrary to what you may have heard, Spotify does not pay royalties in accordance with the rate per play or per stream. The amount of royalties that artists receive may vary depending on differences in the way their music is streamed or agreements made with labels or distributors."
