If a music service discovers that you (or a marketing or promotion service) have boosted your play counts through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means (e.g. digital bots, click farms, payment for placement on playlists, etc.), it will be removed from the platform and the service may remove your entire catalog on a permanent basis.

Artificial streaming activity is detected based on a variety of factors by fraud prevention teams for each streaming service.

Here are some red flags to look out for:

• Be wary of promotional or marketing firms that claim they will boost your streaming numbers. Often, these firms are run by bots that can be flagged for artificial streaming activity.

• If you are considering marketing and promotion services for your release, be sure to research the service you plan on hiring so you know exactly what you are paying for. No matter what sort of marketing they promise, you may want to avoid any company that guarantees placement on playlists or promises a specific number of streams.