Russ EXPOSES How the Music Industry FAKES STREAMS

Watch Full Episode - • Russ Reveals How Artis...
Flagrant is a comedy show that delivers unfiltered, unapologetic, and unruly hot takes directly to your dome piece. In an era dictated by political correctness, hosts Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh, along with AlexxMedia and Mark Gagnon, could care less about sensitivities. If it’s funny and flagrant it flies. If you are sensitive this podcast is not for you. But if you miss the days of comedians actually being funny instead of preaching to a choir then welcome to The Flagrancy.
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[@corneliusrawness]

One thing that annoys me so bad is when someone interrupts someone that actually knows what they are talking about when they know very little. Let the man cook damn

[@alfredeneuman4947]

who did it i missed it?

[@corneliusrawness]

@@alfredeneuman4947 lol yeaight

[@SeekOneness]

lol surprisingly, I think this is the least amount of times Schultz interrupted a guest… which is sad 🥲

[@Premenyc]

He is trying to act dumb

[@Tunechi65]

Mad annoying

[@someonewashere8961]

This is not much different from what music labels were doing before streams. They would control what played on the radio and this would control which artists were successful.

[@heartlights]

One could say this all isn't much different than how the free market works (only the best music gets listened to, making the best artists successful), except the elephant in the room is who is controlling other people's success and to what end. If this was just about "controlling the market" for the sake of the commonwealth, then why not let the free market deal with it? 🧐 Maybe the motives of the people currently in control of the music industry aren't in the best interests of the commonwealth.

[@jghifiversveiws8729]

Payola

[@targetegrat]

Even the record company buying multiple copies of the artist album to ensure they go multi platinum

[@goatman3057]

100% and suppressing artists like Gran who freaking rocks! kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHOueoifZsp6Z6Msi=RW4o_0B4bebeqZTY Cc is English

[@whoa_status]

Dr B 4:15 b

[@donnyjay4269]

Ice Spice is definitely being propped up.

[@Dizzy808]

all female rappers at this point they all suck

[@jimhendrix7776]

It's like katts been saying, they're plants!!! Everything built around them, image, character, outfits, writers etc...

[@donnyjay4269]

@@jimhendrix7776 fax, I don’t know anyone who likes her music. Yet she’s famous lol

[@alien-hs1zn]

Her producer dad works for the label she definitely a untalented industry plant

[@goatman3057]

Well Gran I think is being pushed down, he owns kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHOueoifZsp6Z6Msi=RW4o_0B4bebeqZTY Cc is English

[@robertmaynez]

It's modern day payola. "Fake commotion creates real emotion" - Russ. Fake streams equals real money vs fake followers doesn't equate real money.

[@Tunechi65]

Truth

[@reconstruct23]

Fake followers can equate to real money because it can alter the perception of your popularity. A person with 10 million followers isn’t gonna get paid the same as a person with 20 million followers for a Pepsi commercial (all other things being equal)

[@Jkngz]

This happens with govt too

[@savethesouls_]

always look at views to likes ratio

[@xndr_mrw]

​@@savethesouls_ please explain why that ratio is important? I've never liked a video on YT even if I enjoyed it. Won't that make that stat a false positive?

[@heartlights]

There's also mad amounts of hiding indie artist streams (so they don't appear to be competing in the same arena).

[@heartlights]

Five years ago, "farming computers in third world countries and hacking the backend to make the IPs look American" was crazy shit that none of us understood but nowadays we're all like "yeah that makes sense"

[@MaganaVentures]

This is the same thing with New York best sellers. They publishing houses pays companies to buy their books to make get them on the list and seem like it’s a best seller.

[@Amyus2346]

This standard practice across all businesses. He’s not exposing shit

[@goatman3057]

Yeah and the books that help you get suppressed like Gran, he’s brilliant kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHOueoifZsp6Z6Msi=RW4o_0B4bebeqZTY Cc is in English

[@bluesparrow92]

Ahhh that makes sense, I always wondered how almost all books had the NY best seller label. I figured one reason could be that the threshold was low. So if among certain women for eg SAHM romance easy breezy books are popular, then who knows it could be a best seller. I've always thought of it like thresholds would be low maybe because reading books may be at an all time low.

[@u32481]

Andrew I know they’re your friends but there’s way too many people on this podcast talking over each other. Put a couple behind the camera

[@Jhizzle473]

I agree so many people do this, even the live stream panels do it. They need to have a raise hand button for speaking purposes 😂

[@ejboy9]

That’s why it was better with the old set when Marc and Alex were off camera

[@SravyaKuchipudi]

@@ejboy9 lmao what? Russ was answering their questions the whole time and everyone was just listening

[@valor1630]

Empty cans are noisy cans.. 8:48

[@KevinsDisobedience]

lol literally no one was talking over each other here

[@kiratz123]

Don’t be fooled. Even smaller artists are doing this. I know a rapper that been faking streams since he started rapping

[@VikktorVampiir]

yea me too... its Russ 🤣😂

[@Ishbikes]

@@VikktorVampiirthat’s why he’s so well versed.

[@goatman3057]

Well I know a guy who doesn’t his views suck haha but he’s awesome kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHOueoifZsp6Z6Msi=RW4o_0B4bebeqZTY names Gran

[@a.j.triplett4624]

I'll take it a step further and say it started with smaller and local artists and the corps just capitalized on it.

[@Ishbikes]

@@a.j.triplett4624 good catch

[@s.harrison3699]

Age old practices with different names. Fake stream=Payola Fake commotion=Marketing

[@samgove7871]

that sponsor banner is fucking gross

[@xBlake]

And to put it up when guest is talking…. Like they didn’t interrupt him enough

[@bl2528]

Bills gotta be paid

[@xBlake]

It’s not the fact that he put an ad, it’s that he did it in such an obnoxious way. Idk maybe he knew it’d make angry people comment

[@Ishbikes]

For that thing to be that big, they must’ve spent a shit ton of money..

[@Xavierrrr_edits]

So much interrupting man, Russ is a great mind. I’m a hour in and it’s like holy shit how many times is he gonna get interrupted mid statement.

[@antoineLebrane]

its annoying asf😂😂😂

[@xelaander8429]

Don't worry, next time he'll talk into your ears just for you alone

[@DannyJuke]

That's prettyy this podcast to a T for the past year. Andrew doesn't shut up.

[@WaitLook1]

i was thinking that, but he won't just be interrupted wish is the power he shows

[@antoineLebrane]

@@xelaander8429 bro shut the hell up it always gotta be a weirdo saying something

[@vacatola]

It's not just music and it's not just entertainment. Everyone is trying to juice their analytics numbers across industries and it's been going on for at least 15 years.

[@salokin2410]

Yea it’s been pretty obvious for a while now. Streaming services constantly recommend dog crap movies and shows despite claiming they’re “most watched”, songs don’t have any soul in them anymore, even Facebook got called out for faking metrics to generate more ad revenue. The whole thing is fake and anyone paying attention has known something is off for a few years now. It seems to have taken off to a ridiculous degree after we were all forced to be online for nearly 2 years of Covid.

[@chillyoungapex8545]

Not 15 but yeah

[@FreeDumb101]

​@@chillyoungapex8545Yes at least 15 if not more. Even cops. Watch The Wire

[@axxelfoley3304]

Lupe talked about this years ago at MIT class he teaches

[@jazzbase412]

Thank you

[@Ishbikes]

Difference between Lupe & Russ is *Lupe is genuine.*

[@scoutwithoutclout]

21 Pilots' song Heathens shows 2.1B streams. Good song, but my 1st reaction to seeing that was "no f'in way"

[@xndr_mrw]

I know a couple 100 broken whites in 3rd world countries that jam "Heathens" eerytime they party. 2.1B might be correct because of mental health problems worldwide. 😂😂😂

[@AlexaOleksa]

Heathens is Suicide squad official track,.it was boosted with movie promotions. But i personally like this song🤷

[@wvlfkvnt]

@@AlexaOleksawhich explains why they wouldn’t boost a song that isn’t already gaining traction. It’s not blatant but is obvious.

[@peacepocket]

You can’t fake concert ticket sales. If an artist is selling out arena tours, the fanbase is real.

[@2-Corrupt]

True but they selling out tickets and still botting streams. Double the money

[@sticks2478]

I'm a professional drummer. Here is a money story for ya. There's a professional player who made 4000 a month in his first pro gig in the late 70s. Then he got the gig with Lionel Richie and the money went to 30000 a month. Next Michael Jackson's band for 45000 a month. Then we hit the 90s. His next offer was for the backstreet boys..... they offered 10000 a month. Today a pro player can earn as little as 4 to 5 thousand a month from gigs. Most also teach and do whatever else they can to stay in the game, as they do it for the love. I get it. Especially as a drummer. Who wants to pay good money for a live musician when a machine will do the job for near zero cost.

[@johnviera3884]

you need to be a touring drummer. Touring is up by 800% versus 1979. so its not that bad.

[@matthoward598]

As a huge fan of electronic music. And a fan of live music. You can't replicate a live drummer, both for studio or live performance. Daft Punk understood that.

[@mercytms4145]

​@@ginko154idk g. I've been listening to Squidward and SpongeBob AI tearing up tracks over the originals... He's on to something

[@Ishbikes]

@@globaldefenseorgright? Even the books are trash nowadays! 😂 that’s 100% truth.. the books are horrible now.

[@derfmode]

I actually know exactly how they are doing this on Spotify. And on SoundCloud. I was watching a computer science video about probability when I had the idea. I tested it on SoundCloud just to see if it really works and I went to sleep. The next morning, the song I had to uploaded to SoundCloud had 16k plays. I’m not going to get into much detail because I don’t support this practice and I think it’s scummy. This was just an experiment. But I will be vague… basically a couple dozen alternate proxy servers set up streaming the song, on repeat from dozens of countries at once via VPN trickery… all from a single computer. The hardest part was writing a python script for this for automation.. though wasn’t too difficult, But these days with AI… Things are so accessible for anyone. My guess is the labels could add millions of plays and views overnight if they wanted. But that would raise suspicion. So they are probably trying to be somewhat discrete about the rate in which they boost their product.

[@erikrosalez3041]

Do the rise of use of vpns help these

[@erikrosalez3041]

As people using the vpn services becoming like a node for music streams

[@derfmode]

@@erikrosalez3041 it could

[@Premenyc]

Shultz acting like the podcasting industry isnt doing the same thing. Lol

[@liquidgold]

ESPECIALLY on IG bruh. There would be a person with 1 million followers but posts would only have 30 likes?

[@Christian-eq6pq]

Podcasters are botting streams? I don’t even see how that would be helpful or work unless they’re paying to get on Apple’s charts

[@DannyJuke]

@@Christian-eq6pq Brendan Schaub literally got caught buying views on KZbin to juke the system.

[@Premenyc]

@@Christian-eq6pq same way it happens with music genius… and they are on spotify also if you havent noticed spotifys biggest thing now is podcast

[@Premenyc]

@@Christian-eq6pq bruh just said i dont see how that would be helpful lol. Are you shultz on an alt account?

[@Kcking74]

They use family plans and cheap phones to put the songs on repeat. For every 3 plays you get .01 cent on Spotify. Farming streams.

[@kaygee9833]

It's crazy out here!

[@AlexaOleksa]

If you put song on repeat it is filtered out, if you want streams to count, you should put 2-3 different track between targeted track and change playlists every couple hours)))

[@DonniesWrld35]

RUSS TALK DAT TALK 🔥🔥🔥🔥🙌💯

[@user-le4yi7wn8q]

No different then when you thought the artist sold a million back in the day but label really purchased copies

[@humanbeing4368]

Right on! Just like labels will buy tour tickets to give the illusion of it being sold out.

[@BLLRRR]

Yo its 2024 name the guys getting the fake streams ,be like katt Williams 😂

[@01downside]

But legally it’s financial fraud. Influencers have been arrested for bots. But there’s so much money running through the system that they would destroy the market if it was stopped

[@JohnnyHayesMusic]

Bro, thank you so much for bringing this to light. We could feel it already, but it’s really nice to hear this to be honest with you.

[@ChDrY]

Need more ads on this video andrew

[@markmittens]

what's scary is this applies to so much more

[@MinterXGaming]

Yo, this is crazy. He is spitting back nothing but facts he is literally giving you verbal receipt and going out of his way not to call people out and you can hear the genuine like almost temptation in his voice. This is a crazy world we live in.

[@RashaudPlayer]

The fade deadly mane

[@salty_superspreader3647]

RUSS PUTS ON LIVE. IN HOUSTON. YES THATS A DOPE SHOW. MUCH RESPECT

[@shengrant3088]

Shultz got that i am fire captian from staten Island "what's the matter with youssss" lmfao 😂😂😂

[@eyeofgodmortis1094]

hi sr

[@SuperGoodbag]

Taylor swift is somewhere shaking because this info got out

[@rishabhmishra9230]

She fills stadiums after stadiums. you're an idiot

[@MrKohulann30]

i mean im not a taylor fan by any stretch but their logic is that the artists that sell out shows aren't doing the fake streams, taylor just had the most successful tour in history lol

[@Dominic_V]

taylor not faking anything lol

[@Will-lg9ev]

No he stated all artist do, if they are signed to a label. Her label is in the business of keeping her massive.

[@ZeroSky89]

I live in Nashville and when she comes through here for her tour it literally warps Nashville. Its crazy. people come from all over and wear her merch everywhere. its kinda crazy the influence she has.

[@kaylawoodie6510]

Mad respect for Russ always!! what a phenomenal interview

[@kokoBuSiLiCa]

Russ said nothing but facts this whole episode, it's my favorite episode recently. I'm writing rap and I'm following the culture for 20 years, Russ is just spot on and speaking pure logic.

[@kevinbishop5722]

Wow this was an awesome interview

[@JasonFarrellLevelUpBoxing]

They have guys that just have rooms filled with phones cranking out streams all day. I forget the guys name but it was a guy from Baltimore that used to do it for other artists, that did it for himself and made him the number 1 guy on Spotify, with a whole billboard in Times Square and all that! A dude I never heard of, I still can’t remember his name and hasn’t heard of sense

[@michaelblutstein7270]

Any chance you can find their name? I’m so curious

[@AdrianMilanio]

@@michaelblutstein7270Chad focus

[@hotephomie8024]

This is essentially what happens in every facet of the entertainment industry. They fake commotion, to make commotion.

[@maexmaestermann471]

They do that FOR SURE!

[@A.RBLISS]

Now Spotify makes u click a box before submitting a song stating that u as a artist will not pay for buy promo streams and if you do you will get kicked off Spotify and possibly sued

[@DePerfectionist96]

bro that doesn't mean shit. This is only applicable to new random artists that might buy fake streams to promote themselves. This i suppose is done so the charts don't get completely flooded and out of control from whatever "soundcloud" artists. If you are already behind a big label that shit can't get tracked easily especially when you already have some organic traction and real fan base as Russ said. But manipulated streams = fake streams nonetheless

[@Jhizzle473]

I’ve been saying this for years I’m not in the industry but think about it you have one song or are marketable on Tik tok have little talent and people reach out to you to become famous, you become an investment to them. They then hire writers to make your songs better or even write all your lyrics for you or fake streams you are just the face at that point, basically making you too big to fail because you’d cost them so much money if you tanked as an artist.

[@KeepItReal213]

Yep. Russ is faking his streams lol. How hard he’s trying to look innocent and deny it tells it all. 🤣🤣🤣

[@clqrqqboxtxng5901]

Loool facts!

[@StaceyFoxx]

how u know...?Proof?

[@KeepItReal213]

@@StaceyFoxx Proof is what I posted ^^. He said he knows how to fake streams but yet he's trying way too hard to make himself look innocent. Over explaining and trying to convince the audience why he doesn't. LOL. It's obvious he does.

[@heythere6983]

That’s what they do on KZbin numbers , songs have bullions on KZbin or hundreds of millions yet the most viral songs only get 5-10 mill for a year

[@heartlights]

If we can foster the return of indie music scenes (bands, labels, zines, touring companies, venues, etc) we can regain freedom for artists and the community. When i was a kid, we learned about groups by going to see our favorite bands and catching the opening act or reading reviews in the local zines and online. When we abandoned that stuff for festivals and pitchfork we lost that. Time to get it back!!!

[@daveSoupy]

How is this any different than Sprint buying enough copies of Jay-Z's album so it goes gold?

[@pitchking5496]

No difference except today it’s much easier to hide and you can juice the numbers so ridiculous no one will tell that isn’t into marketing or data analytics.

[@Ishbikes]

It’s not..

[@alexvillafranco9030]

This dude got half a fade

[@nklinef]

They've been doing this forever with radio stations. It's just an old racket taking advantage of new technology. The same principle was applied to MTV when it showed videos. It's but a single facet of what Noam Chomsky called Manufactured Consent.

[@derpderpington824]

Right? This has been going on since we learned how to press vinyl.😂

[@Bigjohn-jm7un]

@ 2:55, why did they switch leg positions at the same time, indicted by a sigh? I’ve seen this done before, usually as a prank on the guest to make them over analyze, but I don’t see the reasoning here.

[@Arizona9001]

KZbin please never show this podcast to me again

[@antoineLebrane]

facts first and last time im listening😂😂

[@dmx1721]

i never used apple or spotify , i have sooooooooooooooo much cd's form ever since i was in high school that all i need is a ipod or cell phone that i can get a bigger sd card and put my music on their so i don't need any streaming service to listen to music on

[@AlexaOleksa]

That's why the only real data is sold out shows amd how many people want to see you live. And when the streams match sale, match sold out stadiums - real confirmation, but when you have billion streams and can't fill 15k arena...well, that tells you smth

[@varsame]

That 315 song was THE song on TikTok

[@mictrap1383]

Russ a real one man 💯

[@KeepItReal213]

But you can tell he’s also faking streams. Lol. He’s trying too hard to deny it. 🤣🤣

[@jorgaridya7085]

They flag my lastest single because it did 35k streams and they removed it. Spotify and Distrokid won't give you any form of evidence or appeal. When I check the playlists it was on some where from "official" Spotify playlist but 2 striked me as fake. One of them was an user name Artister. I reported the playlists and the user but they both still on Spotify and my song was taken down. That's bullshit. We don't have any control over what user do in the platform. If your song is pick and place on a bot playlist without your concent, you have no way to remove it. I requested to get all music from Spotify but Distrokid want me to delete all my music from my Distrokid account and reupload them and then exclude Spotify. That's is more bullshit.

[@Prodby.1takeonthetrack]

The math not mathing 😂 facts jcole said it best

[@jazzbase412]

Thanks is that where that comes from 😂

[@Prodby.1takeonthetrack]

@@jazzbase412 facts 😂

[@heartlights]

Someone should explain to Schulz how the podcast producers are in on the ruse.

[@GrimysocietyTv]

Labels Have been buying artists cds tapes stream since music began to make an artist number 1 you can see mtv videos where artists buy all the cds in the stores to push for number 1

[@officialkngfst]

dropping major jewels💎💎💎

[@BigWrangler]

Russ got little hands. But so do I. God bless.

[@demontacoats3187]

Dude got interrupted at least 50 times

[@TheHavenHell]

Back in the day, it's like getting a diamond by releasing double disks album. The album actually only sold 5mil copies but they counted it as 10mil and you got diamond.

[@kendallmurphy8357]

this dont hit the same coming from somebody that pops was working within the industry before he made his first record lol

[@wavegod_1006]

It’s like how the labels use to buy the albums to boost first weeks sales

[@Frogmommyiester]

😢 Russ will never be on our radio, so i am here everyday to listen. Hes super underrated.

[@memphysmoto2649]

The same way they buy followers and views, they buy streams. There are millions of companies that provide these services.

[@henriquesa2384]

The majority of artits as celebs buy A LOT of bots on social media, you can see celebs with more than 200 Million/ more than 300 Million followers and then when they post, they get like, 1 or 2 Million likes, sometimes 3, just 1%, or even less, of theiir "followers" , doesnt make sense.

[@jonquillen5300]

It’s the advertisers losing

[@dominickkasza8096]

This Man, #Russ @Russ is so brilliant and apprised of the shenanigans of the Industry. Speak that TRUTH!

[@OhkayTheKhameleon]

The idea definitley first started with social media its like wait a minute the # of followers don't match the # of likes 🤔

[@MrDrunkNFunky]

Helsinki Streaming farms.. look it up

[@CAhmadDavis92]

Think about alot of big companies for the past 40 years engaging in stock buybacks just to make it look like the Company is doing well.

[@nothinbutms]

there was a tipping point where the hype is now at least 90% better than the album being hyped.

[@stykessavant]

Good convo but unnecessary question to ask…same thing as buying ig likes or followers

[@XiONDiGiTaL]

Shit it aint even just the streams, it's views, subscribers, IG followers,.etc..

[@yuhyuhyuhyuh7158]

Wsp w Andrews cut lmao

[@Prince9layaNarQuis6ratitudeX3]

This is why I chose to not go for that dream Im very wise and Ik how things are... They Finessing...

[@jasonmau6564]

It's funny because when I pick songs I've never heard I will always click on a higher view count because the song will most likely be better. So I guess its working

[@elder_millennial_Fboy]

I work for a tech startup, data or in this case streaming farms are 100% a real thing, it's a huge booming industry in Bangladesh. Ive been to a few of these warehouses, it's just tech sweat shops

[@asvpXl3ssy]

Remembered that J Cole lyric

[@LamarStrong-bp6gk]

The thing about these artists they to put names on them on who doing these things to them like saying the names will expose them

[@Bnrjms]

lol he pretty calling our drake

[@publicenemy1238]

2:40 I work in marketing and we do this all the time. You're not discovering something significant

[@x6da9crain]

Everyone of thier videos is full of comments about them talking over the guest 😂. Fr these guys ask the hard questions they just need to let the guest have more time without interruptions

[@1tayke]

they doing this with youtube views too , all entertainment plats.

[@haalandoates]

This makes me think Hotline Bling might've been an early example of this

[@Gnarly_Gypsy]

Russ is the only reason I am here

[@erickt9415]

New found respect for Russ 🔥💯

[@SeekOneness]

Russ stay dropping gems 💎 on the regular- never understood why this dude gets so much hate… yet, his music gets so much love?! He’s one of the only real ones in the industry who tells it how it is. Hope he keeps growing like this. Dig the music, but respect him more for the insights he delivers. 💯

[@mitchy2311]

Can’t get love without hate

[@ACanofHopePodcast]

The way Russ articulated his thoughts and kept it all within the realm of business and marketing as opposed to fanning the flames of conspiracy; he just earned a new listener to his work.

[@StaceyFoxx]

why are they talking over each other lol

[@559leo-official]

Thank you russ

[@Rain2thaman]

Facts

[@jaeyong2508]

The drawbacks of having an unregulated entertainment industry operate in the domain of capital markets.

[@rasoncurtis2648]

Am I the only one who does not understand what haircut Shultz is rocking like what is that cut called fr man😭

[@2-Corrupt]

But if I get fake streams. I get banned

[@Huskytalks]

Shultz needs to find a new barber man 😂

[@gabrielsilvas692]

I know he needs to stop doing it himself lol

[@csmemarketing]

Russ is a legend.

[@jayjaytunezzz5638]

The first episode was great because it was just the JRE in a new studio with a few extra guests. Every episode since has been unwatchable.

[@mindgravybear2971]

“This is Russ uncut, I’ll expose yall” … exposed is a classic whether yall heard it or not

[@KlikQuot]

Streaming farms isn’t fake you used one before Russ

[@tril3xsyphin124]

Damn bro, let Russ finish his sentence and stop interrupting sheesh

[@sdot7117]

Wait…Russ had a deal with Columbia? 🤔 I thought he was always independent.