Thank you for your message and for taking the time to share all of this information with us. We also appreciate your apology regarding the tone of your previous messages @MattiaBalboni
We understand your frustration and we’d like to clarify our position once again:
How penalties are applied
The penalties are communicated to us directly by Spotify. These penalties are automatically included in the sales reports before they reach us, and we have no influence over their calculation. Our role is to forward you this information as soon as we are notified.
Spotify’s detection and policy
Spotify applies these penalties whenever they detect non-organic streaming activity, regardless of whether this was intentional or not. This means that even if you did not actively use such services, the consequences still apply. Unfortunately, Spotify does not take into account the intention behind the streams, and we as a distributor cannot override or challenge their decision.
Why the communication seems contradictory
Spotify does not contact artists directly about these issues, which is why they direct you back to your distributor. At the same time, they provide us with limited information and expect us to forward the outcome to you. This is why it may feel contradictory, but in reality, it reflects how little Spotify chooses to involve themselves directly in these cases.
Next steps
Spotify suggests that artists can provide their distributor with information about their promotion methods, which we can then forward to them. However, in our experience, this has unfortunately never led to a reconsideration on Spotify’s side, as they do not specify what type of evidence or format they would consider valid. That said, if you’d like us to proceed, we kindly ask you to put together a file outlining your promotional efforts (e.g. links to social media posts, campaigns, or other activities). We will be happy to forward this to Spotify on your behalf, but please note that we cannot guarantee any outcome, since the final decision remains entirely with them.
We understand this is a very frustrating situation, but please know that we are sharing with you the exact information provided to us by Spotify and that these decisions are not made by iMusician.
So what shall we do ? take our music back and use another distributor ? I use another distributor for other albums I’ve released. I’ve never had this kind of problem.
j’ai essayé de parler à l’assistance de Spotify. C’est toujours amusant de parler à un robot sur un chatbot… il m’a dit de voir avec mon distributeur. C’est la maison qui rend fou des 12 travaux d’Astérix cette histoire…
réponses du robot:
Je comprends que cela soit important pour Vous. Cependant, si Vous pensez que tous vos streams ont été obtenus de manière authentique, Vous pouvez fournir avec votre distributeur ou votre label des informations sur les méthodes utilisées pour promouvoir votre musique. Votre distributeur ou label peut transmettre ces informations à notre équipe Contenu pour examen.
De plus, Spotify peut imposer des frais de pénalité à votre distributeur pour la distribution de contenu qui a été presque entièrement diffusé artificiellement, et il peut choisir de Vous répercuter ces frais.
Spotify ne Vous facturera aucun frais directement.
Spotify n’inflige pas d’avertissements aux artistes pour diffusion artificielle, mais certains distributeurs appliquent leurs propres politiques en la matière. Pour plus d’informations sur ces politiques, nous Vous encourageons à consulter les ressources de votre distributeur ou à le contacter directement.
Je comprends et j’imagine à quel point cette situation doit être frustrante pour Vous. Nous savons que certains services utilisent des robots pour diffuser artificiellement votre musique contre votre volonté ou à votre insu. Nous comprenons parfaitement la frustration que cela peut engendrer. Si Vous constatez une anomalie dans vos données Spotify for Artists, veuillez en informer immédiatement votre distributeur ou votre label. Il collaborera avec notre équipe pour examiner le problème et, espérons-le, le résoudre au plus vite.
We’ve provided you all the information available to us whether that’s via the email your received or this thread. Ultimately, as the owner of your recordings, the choice is yours.