It's no secret...
The music industry is filled with fake streams, followers, likes, you name it, and knowing if you should buy Spotify plays or not comes up a lot.
Depending on whom you ask, some would say buying Spotify plays & followers is just part of the game and cool.
But others may say that buying Spotify plays are a means to the end of your career.
Perhaps you're thinking about buying Spotify plays or followers.
Well, let this be the guide that will help you make an informed decision that you can be happy with.
Before we get started, if you're looking at getting Spotify promotion, consider using our platform!
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
We focus on quality and not just the specific number of results you most commonly deal with when buying fake/botted Spotify plays.
We also don't judge or care if someone is dead set on wanting to buy Spotify plays.
We just don't think it's really to go when spending your hard-earned money, and usually doesn't lead to anything meaningful long term.
You can buy Spotify plays. The real question is if it's worth the money. You need to decide whether buying Spotify plays will advance your music career, or if your money is better spent elsewhere.
Buying plays and Spotify followers won't do other than social proof of your profile.
This is coming from us, who got started by thinking social proofing was the way to go.
Heck... everyone was seemingly doing it.
Everywhere from social media to their music to even faking attendance numbers at shows...
Social proofing was going crazy.
Here's the main problem we see with buying Spotify streams and Spotify followers.
Sure it looks awesome, right? Aye! That sweet, sweet 10k stream count.
But hey... wait a minute... I only have 12 monthly listeners. Uh oh.
Yeah... a massive problem that happens when you buy Spotify plays is that your profile looks... well.. fake.
And I don't just mean that might look fake. Nah. It looks fake.
People see even an average listener these days.
Keep that in mind when buying cheap Spotify The number of monthly listeners will look off.
Your listeners usually look like this.
Your top locations are usually Buffalo US, Frankfurt Am Main DE, Phoenix US, etc...
We see this every day now as an agency. So many artists come to us after they buy Spotify plays/streams.
The problem with this is that everyone who knows... knows.
We all know that you bought fake listeners. And trust me when I say that can really hurt your reputation. all, it takes years to build a good reputation and only a few days to break it all.
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
Here at Boost Collective, we like to describe the proper method of building up your Spotify profile like this.
QSDR method: Quality, Spotify, Data, Reinforcement.
If you feed Spotify with organic listener data, then its muscles will continue to grow, and algorithmically the platform will actually work to get you more.
Neat huh?
That's once again why we'd much rather organically stack quality playlists and other traffic to our customers' Spotify promotion campaigns.
Organic traffic on Spotify has to come from real ears.
Real people who actually make decisions.
If they like, they'll save it, stream it more, etc...
if they don't... tough luck. Make more music, improve, release, and keep building up your catalog.
When you buy Spotify to play and followers, just know that you are not feeding Spotify will quality data that can actually help you long term.
You run the risk of your song being removed if you buy fake/botted plays or streams for your music on Spotify.
In recent years, Spotify has gotten smarter when it comes to its anti-bot detection.
Out of 300 artists we surveyed, 60% said Spotify had taken down their songs after buying fake plays.
As an agency that promotes music on Spotify organically, we oftentimes see customers who have bought streams have their songs removed from the platform.
It really sucks, especially for us as artists lay blame where the blame shouldn't be.
But hey. We understand the frustration.
Don't be too upset if your song does get removed from Spotify.
You knew what you were getting into when you chose to buy Spotify plays, followers, and listeners.
Bonus: Check out Boost Collective's free Spotify promotion here - our free-to-use platform is a must-join for all independent artists:
In early 2021, Spotify removed tens of thousands of tracks (according to distrokid) from the platform after they detected fake activity on said tracks.
Check out this article by Music Digital News on the Spotify purge of 2021.
Now... you're probably thinking.
What if someone were to target you and buy Spotify plays and followers on your song? Could you get in trouble?
Would your song get taken down?
That's a great question. The simple answer is yes there is a chance.
Your Spotify account doesn't seem to be at risk when fake statistics are added, however, yes, your song may be taken down.
The good news is yes, you can get your song back up on Spotify if it was taken down due to botted plays/streams.
If you make sure that you keep your ISRC code handy, you can actually go onto a different distributor and your song.
Make sure that you use the exact ISRC, artwork, title, artists, etc...
In most cases, you'll also get your stream count back.
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
Spotify said they may withhold royalties they collect for your music if you have fake streams on your songs.
Be aware that you may also run the risk of your song being removed from the platform entirely if they discover the use of bot activity of any kind.
So... the answer really depends on where you buy the streams and if Spotify can detect if your streams are fake... I can't just buy 1000 Spotify plays and get paid for them?
A cheap service for buying Spotify plays/streams will most likely result in the platform detecting your streams and thus you will not be compensated for the streams you brought in.
If you're able to find a solid service, you can probably get paid from the streams and plays that you buy. But with that comes a greater ethical issue.
If you buy Spotify plays, you are potentially stealing money from Spotify.
Let me break this down.
Let's say that you buy Spotify plays/streams at $10 for 5,000 streams.
If Spotify is paying out around $4 for 1000 streams then you are effectively taking $20 from them.
This is the main reason why Spotify wants to remove your song from their platform. No one likes a thief.
Whilst it's not illegal to buy Spotify plays or followers, those who use bots to add plays to their music are effectively stealing money from Spotify, which could come back to bite you.
We recommend avoiding bots of any kind when promoting your music.
Spotify has been vocal that it does not tolerate the use of fake stream activity.
You will be at risk of getting your song taken down, or even your profile in general.
Unlike other social media platforms, Spotify does have to pay out a % of its streaming pie to you if it doesn't detect the bot activity.
The music streaming system Spotify uses is a little confusing.
For the whole amount of revenue that Spotify will be paying out, your % of that stream share will determine what you're owed.
Once again, using sites to buy Spotify streams/plays that are cheap, will most likely not qualify for payouts.
In other words, the streams are not royalty-eligible.
Here are 3 ways to tell if a site is not legit.
1. They charge money for a hyper-specific amount of streams.
2. The site is offering large amounts of streams for small budgets ($50 for 10,000 Streams).
3. The site has noticeable spelling & grammar mistakes.
How do you tell if these sites to buy Spotify plays are actually selling you a legit promotion right away, the dead giveaway is the offering.
1000 plays for $10? Hmm... that's fishy.
Usually, these sites where you can buy Spotify plays/streams display 5+ packages, all with exact stream count numbers (5k Streams, 10k Streams, 20k Streams, 100k Streams).
Let me tell you right now that you can't really get 1000 plays for a super low budget.
Emoting your music to tertiary countries won't result in big results for hyper-low prices.
These services after all are serving a market that doesn't seem to care if people actually care or listen to their music.
Hey... if you have the "clout", these services/packages are great.
The takeaway here though is to not be upset when your artist account gets affected, or other artists or industry professionals take notice that affected labels also dislike artists using these fake/botted services.
Keep that in mind. Spotify is essentially a social media for music in a way.
What would happen if you bought a ton of botted followers for your Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media, etc...
The numbers and results wouldn't add up, and if you're trying to get brand deals or record deals, it's going to be tough to score those opportunities.
In short, no... buying Spotify streams is not an effective music marketing strategy if you're trying to actually grow a legitimate logic career.
Instead of long-term Spotify plays, followers, streams, and monthly listeners, learn how to apply tangible marketing strategies to your release strategy.
So wait a sec... I can't grow by just going out and buying the cheapest Spotify plays. Aww, man!
I mean hey, if it was that easy, that one would be doing it.
Truth be told, making great music is still incredibly important.
If you want to grow as an artist, not only do you need good a music marketing strategy, you need actual good music.
It seems like everyone on the internet side of the music industry wants you to focus so much on marketing.
Hey, marketing does help. But a song that makes 1 person want to stream it 50 times means more than everything.
This is so good because now all you need to do is get people to listen to your song.
Whether that's working with an agency like us (Boost Collective), to get some new ears on your song, or a wicked new social media strategy, or something else...
Having a catchy track is still king, and that's a darn good thing!
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
Luckily yes! If you want real Spotify plays, monthly listeners, etc... here are the, best sites to buy from.
We created a page on the best music PR services to use.
We encourage you to go into promoting with an agency with proper expectations.
We along with other music agencies have experience with getting the best organic results we can for the money.
If you go into the promotion with the mindset that you're going to get thousands of streams for a few dollars...
You're going to be pretty disappointed.
Sorry, it doesn't work like that.
Unlike using bots (cheap Spotify plays), your results will differ with organic Spotify promotion services purely due to music taste, quality, and how the li,steners take to your song in general.
If you're looking for some free playlist submissions, Here's how you can submit to Spotify playliSpotify free in 2021.
Playlists make up a massive part of music discovery on the platform.
Now that we've covered the streams and listeners aspect of fake activity on Spotify.
So what if you buy Spotify followers instead would that help in any way? Would there be a way to build a solid audience?
Well... sorry but the answer is still no. The whole idea of using sites to buy Spotify plays, followers, streams, and whatnot is for "social proofing".
Social proofing is when you manipulate or inflate your stats to make it look like you're actually "popping off".
When you go to buy Spotify followers you're just increasing the number for others to see.
It's not doing anything you grow your organic listeners or streams.
The whole point of using fake followers on Spotify is to make it appear as if the fake streams you're buying are legitimate.
It sounds pretty funny reading that back, but that's the main point/purpose of social proofing.
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
Is there the best site to buy Spotify plays, followers, streams, or listeners?
We recommend you don't buy anything, but use our free Spotify promotion tool.
We feel like it'd be odd to recommend sites to buy plays, streams, and followers straight up.,
Instead, we thought we'd give you a list of organic sites if you want to buy Spotify growth.
Here are some Spotify playlist curator platforms that you want to consider:
Depending on what agency you use, there are going to be different pricing models and structures that you want to take note of.
We're a bit biased here with what we think is the best choice for music artists to get music promotion.
Our team has been in the game for some time now (since 2017), and we like to promise solid delivery through our company.
We also have options that start from being affordable to more expensive depending on the number of placements and other factors.
We recommend going for more than just 1 track that you're promoting.
We see great results and engagement when artists push 2 songs at the same time and here's why.
When you are reaching the same listeners more than just one time, those same people are getting exposed to you more than just once.
In businesses, there's a term called "touch points".
When a cold prospect (someone that hasn't seen you before), sees you multiple times, they're more likely to engage with you.
Usually, it takes people hearing about 7-10 tracks of yours before they really round long term and become long-term.
Keep this in mind when you're building your career.
We see many artists only want to push 1 song and are opposed to releasing multiple songs and pushing them.
Don't forget that sometimes the songs you think are your hits, don't turn out that way, and instead the songs you didn't think would do well, become your biggest hits. Pretty odd right?
But hey that's the music industry.
This is a great question.
There is no right answer to this question because it's all relative.
Someone with a lot of capital will find it easier to spend $100k on promoting their new album.
But hey, the average artist on the come-up doesn't have come-up and get like that.
Let's reverse the question.
Here's how much you shouldn't spend to buy Spotify playlist placements or traffic of any kind.
Firstly, we don't recommend spending a hyper-low amount on hyper-low marketing.
This isn't so that artists give us or any other agency more money... no.
Simply put, $50 isn't going to make a big difference in your success.
Just think about how much labels put into a music project.
They spend thousands just to get a shot at a potential 3x ROI (return on investment).
Building a music career is a long long-term whilst we've seen artists like Post Malone and The Kid Laroi seemingly go from nothing to overnight successes...
A lot of time and capital was invested into their career.
Instead of thinking what's about a possible year time frame, start thinking about the 55-year outlook and then the 110-yeartime frame.
Just like most businesses, they operate at a loss for their first few years.
We know artists that didn't start making "music money" until their 6th year.
But when it happens... it's the best feeling in the world.
Just like investing in the stock market, if you're consistently pushing out music, promoting it, improving your craft, and staying hungry for success, you'll score some great results.
Want to get your music on active & relevant playlists that actually get results?
Get your music heard now 👇
If you buy Spotify playlist promotion, you're tapping into an idea on the platform where people are already listening to music.
That's the main reason why playlists have become the best way to get discovered.
We have better results in some cases for artists getting discovered through playlist placements vs paying for Spotify ads on social media (Instagram, Facebook), and that's because people are already there, in the mood to listen to music.
They aren't scrolling on their IG feed and then coming to your song.
Ads seem to work best when you are retargeting your fanbase that already exists.
Here's how we like to promote music on Spotify.
We have a network of playlists that we go to depending on the genre, mood, energy, etc... th, at matches your song.
Sometimes it's best to put your song on a playlist with intent such as a workout playlist as the listener will save the song if they like it and get that last rep in.
As stated above, we recommend trying out a few different songs through an agency such as us, as you can see which song is best to role will also give you more insight into what style people are enjoying from you. You might be surprised.
In short, yes you can buy Spotify monthly listeners, but should you?
In our experience, artists that buy monthly listeners only buy them to make it appear as if the rest of their stats are legitimate.
Usually, this means an artist is purchasing Spotify plays, streams, followers, etc.,
We recommend getting organic streams from real followers of playlists to grow your monthly listeners.
If you're able to get 2 songs on a single thriving playlist, you'll be able to get your monthly listener count up higher.
Instead, we recommend you promote on Spotify with our free Spotify promotion tool on our platform!
You're probably curious, why do so many artists buy Spotify packages that are not legitimate?
Well, when done correctly, social proofing can be a powerful tool.
Here's why.
I like to use the house party analogy for this explanation.
Think about parties that people go to. Chances are they ask, "Who's going to be there"? "Are there lots of people there"? "I don't want to go if there aren't many people going".
People would rather listen to a song that has over 200 million streams on Spotify than one that has no plays/streams on it at all. It's all psychological, and it does work.
The only problem is, it only works when you have people actually coming on your profile/account looking at your songs, stats, etc...
So if you're just buying plays or followers without actually sending people to your page, you're essentially wasting your money.
At this point, we're indifferent to the motivation for fake activity on Spotify.
If artists want to do it, they can't be stopped.
That's why they direct their attention to building up the right way.
I mean... if you're going to spend hard-earned money on your music career, well do it the legit way.
Skip all the potential repercussions or pitfalls that come with buying these fake streams.
I hope you now know all about buying Spotify plays!
It’s time you get your exposure and listeners up - playlisting by Boost Collective has been trusted by 50,000+ artists worldwide.
It’s easy: Search your song, get on playlists, and track your campaign.
What’re you waiting for? Tap in - and get added to playlists in 24 hours.
Join Boost Collective for free here.