Spotify removed 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd‘s track “Earrings” after it reached No. 1 on the platform’s daily US chart, a purge tied to fraudulent activity on the prediction market Kalshi.
The song’s streams had jumped 70% in a single day, pushing it to the top spot by Monday, June 29. Around $3 million had been wagered on which track would be the most streamed on Spotify in June. The deleted streams were identified as fraudulent, intended to inflate the song’s position and trigger payouts for those who bet on “Earrings.” Following the removal, the track fell to No. 4.
Kalshi paid out winning bettors before Spotify took action. In a statement, Kalshi said: “We’re in touch with Spotify and are actively investigating this matter.”
Spotify stated: “All streaming services face ever-changing stream manipulation. Spotify has best-in-class detection and mitigation practices for manipulated streams, and we don’t pay out associated royalties.”
Prediction markets like Kalshi have faced scrutiny for allowing users to wager on virtually any future event, including military operations. The cost of purchasing fake streams is far lower than the potential profit from a successful bet, creating an incentive for manipulation. Streaming numbers carry significant weight for artists’ careers, and artificially inflating them for external financial gain introduces a new layer of mistrust into the music industry.
