Russ EXPOSES Why Major Labels FAKE Music Streams?

Russ EXPOSES Why Major Labels FAKE Music Streams?
🔴 SUBSCRIBE TO CURTISSKINGTV: bit.ly/subcktv
👑 WHO IS CURTISS KING?!
By the way, if this is your first time watching one of my videos, my name is Curtiss King. I'm an Independent Rapper, Music Producer, and KZbinr. My goal is to make you think, laugh and motivate you daily. If you need a channel that constantly keeps you motivated, in a good mood, and speaks to deep thoughts of creatives, consider subscribing.
💪 FULL AMAZON STOREFRONT:
►► www.amazon.com/shop/curtisski...
🌊 FOLLOW CURTISS KING
►► Instagram → / curtissking
►► Twitter → / curtissking
►► Website → curtissking.com
►► My Music → http:/curtissking.bandcamp.com

[@content_fan]

“If you create the illusion of motion and mix it with some organic motion, that can be a big enough commotion for people to believe it’s real” 💯 it’s in marketing history books , PERIOD

[@MatthewJeffero]

But you still have motion. It requires that you have motion in the first place

[@niceguynevermind999]

Ive been saying to artists with little plays and likes that always constantly throw lines in thier songs bitching about it as if this kind of "honesty and loyalty" was ever gonna get them the correct attention because naturally this is what humans have become, they only choose to follow the crowd so why even try to penalize an artist for using such a great tactic especially if the result eventually becomes at least half views organic then its technically not cheating as there are hundreds of thousands of great artists that could remain unknown with the same sound as a big artist because they thought itd be a better idea to not do what the people who at least got paid Most famous people seem to not even care for the fame to begin with

[@heartstrings110]

Yep!

[@gmoney9729]

Y'all are HELLA ancient with this information. Record companies have been notorious for BUYING their artists platinum before streaming. Why the hell would you think they would do anything different now?

[@hollowXwulff]

Exactly. Russ exposed nothing that wasn't already known by those who pay attention

[@salesone8615]

The cycle continues. AI artists next, that cant complain or expose . Complete control

[@sundamusik]

Ain"t nothing new under the sun, labels been F!ckin arround since way back. Labels use to go to all the record shop and buy all the copies, makin us normal folks think the artist be on fire.

[@ecpruthless]

new boss.....same as old boss

[@iLLEly0n]

I did this too with my own album 😂😂😂 used to have a street team doing it.. if you had over 500 units on soundscan first week or month you were pretty much guaranteed to place on the charts in your genre.. but told the street team to buy like 5 copies each everybody and they would get a perk from us kind of shit like a feature or exclusive gear or we would look out on a show etc

[@blakpopepope2863]

Indeed they just took the formula to the platforms.

[@user-bk4pm6me8i]

​@@iLLEly0nSeems preferable to artificially boosting streams with bots.

[@iLLEly0n]

@@user-bk4pm6me8i not sure if it will work nowadays.. might.. soundscan album sale is way stronger than a digital stream I think even back then it was so many streams equaled the same as a unit of an actual album sale, I can’t remember it’s been like 15 or 20 years since we were in the game 😂 like we were literally in the MySpace era before all these KZbin and SoundCloud rappers back when a physical pressed up CD was how you distinguished who was a real rapper or not 😂

[@tre0963-ok6ky]

Whoever said numbers don't lie, LIED. 🤥

[@meekstrosityproductions6880]

This makes me wonder how famous would some of these people actually be. Like would we really pump up these artist without the money behind them?

[@MichaelHemotoxin]

This is why i cut myself off from DSPs entirely, music happens at the shows and on the record not on your phone.

[@vinnybell5075]

When a song organically becomes a hit. Is different than a turntable hit, I had number one records. It's magic when a songs blows up on it's own. A lot of time it's already too 20 billboard before the major machine kicks in. To cross it over to the pop charts and take it the rest of the way. Outside in NY it's playing everywhere, philly, DC etc. You can't get away from it. The label owner once told me a hit record is a hit record. That's a amazing feeling when that takes place. Over the years I've produced several Gold records. But some are just like shooting stars. When it's a new artist who the parent company didn't expect it. No feeling like it in the world.

[@itsmetonylei2540]

this is just an augmented version of what they used to do in the 90s... Marketing Managers were given budgets to buy albums from the stores to get air play on the radio. Air play in the 90s gets sales up. It's always been a case of "how to hack the system" for everything in marketing.

[@user-bk4pm6me8i]

At least we're getting radio airplay instead of some sketchy pump-and-dump crap. But let's be real, those record labels are probably raking in more cash through stock manipulation anyway.

[@Sakima205]

Also another point that I haven't heard ever been brought up is: A million vewiers isn't a million fans, you don't know you dislike it you press play

[@vinnybell5075]

It's like being a racehorse that no one expected to win. Airplay or streams there's nothing more gratifying than when the public let's you know I'm feeling this art you made and it's in every household Urban and Suburbs from Brooklyn to Connecticut. When I was 18, I took my girlfriend to see EWF, Luther Vandross Kool & the gang n brought there music. One day I met Rick James in a dressing room. And he said young man you feeling yourself cause you got a #1 record n a gold Lp. I replied no Mr James I'm still in the struggle. He laugh and shook my hand. Never knew how he knew my name because that was B4 social media.

[@kmart625]

I remember like 2 years ago my Spotify wrapped said my most streamed artist that year was lil pump and I was like I know for damn sure I never streamed a lil pump song or even heard a song with a feature with him this whole year. I was like Spotify using my account for fake streams for sure 😭

[@carbonvibes]

Spotify is literally doing beer math 😂 If Spotify is a Pimp, this would be laziest Pimp ever.

[@TheTrueChrisA.K.]

🤣🤣🤣

[@billwang3720]

This sounds like a ponzee scheme

[@MMXVII]

think about this too . they got money to add 90%+ fake streams to another artist in competition with their signed artists to get songs removed . gon be a fun year gang #fckspotify

[@keynotez]

Exactly !

[@six7264]

Quick explanation Curtis: All major labels including Columbia were early investors in Spotify such that they could dictate pay per stream. They wanted to make sure that pay-per-stream was at a low rate so that artists that were on their labels couldn't recoup as quickly and thus would not have the leverage to leave their deals as easily. They also didn't want an ecosystem whereby artists would leave and thus stay independent. They wanted to make sure the system was one whereby an artist would need a larger budget and backing to breakthrough. Most labels have equity positions in Spotify.

[@shadowfukkinblowed]

I knew it!!! Also love the content and music you doon, tryna get like you big dawg

[@natemakesbeats2138]

I love when videos like these vome to light because it makes us look like lees of the tinfoil hat crew and more of the people who are seeing the light before hand

[@ChadFocus]

There is no Bigger Docuseries exposing this other than Chad Focus x Michael K Williams "Rage Against the Machines". Let the people know Curtiss. Much love! I GAVE the entire game away.

[@mroberts4057]

The legend himself... Mr. Focus R.I.P MKW

[@mlltckttvcirclesofmakaveli7560]

😂 late.. like decades.. wonder where us real artist are.. we chillen..Bless you all..💯😎💯

[@kyyy2x]

Curtis is cold. I felt personally attacked after hearing that track but it was soooo Good can’t be mad😂

[@BobbyfromtheStore]

9:36 this is why when artist drop an album, they always do interviews at Apple. They’re really promoting the platform instead of their album.

[@NOIRsDuff]

Thank you for the insight

[@DeShawnBigD]

Dope video and perspective fam. Thanks for sharing!!

[@Morali-D]

I salute every move that you make Curtiss King. Thank you for revealing these alternate paths Artists can make.

[@Diamonique]

Curtiss I love watching your videos for your commentary lol You always keep me rollin man! 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭 Always the realest content too 🙌🏼

[@CurtissKingTV]

🤣🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 honored to have you watch them

[@SeanBlaque]

This reaction vid is dope man!!! 🔥🔥🔥

[@nguday2003]

Your voice is fire! Solid content and the production sounds great!

[@RAPSTAR7LLC]

to Curtiss King TV best video ever on your channel. A lot of game, "Somebody gonna tell the truth , or i am gonna tell them", Big Facts

[@plugmeradio]

The reason majority of artist get dup because they dont learn the business; they only see the luxury life, of trust so many other reasons. When I worked for Harry Fox I've seen so many established artist who didnt have their paper work in results there was no such thing as getting a royalty check to where their name was not even part of the project they thought their was on and I'm speaking before there was a stream or Spotify. I can go on with this the industry is a pure shark tank with the music industry.

[@jasonbrown3658]

Record labels are grimey. That's why they sign rappers that rap about doing grimey activities like rob and steal. Rappers can't get mad about labels robbing them while they rap about robbing people

[@c10_c10]

Amazing video that also applies to business and life, thank you Mr. King for spreading the truth!

[@onlyagreeingsometimes]

A fake number 1 for high-paid artists means a hard chance for a talented non-paid artist to get a high ranking. Basically, keeping the music theme etc fixed. It's deeper than explained 🙄

[@SoLTheArtist]

The Spotify Artist Accounting at the end of the year has new spin for me, due to the fact I wanted to change the name of my artist account, and instead, they "moved" my song to a whole new account with the renamed artist while keeping the song on the original account that they said would initially be deleted.

[@mmi3207]

The high stream popularity can be transferred into thousands or millions of dollars of deals with other brands or companies that hire the artist to do events.

[@GNovaSound]

🔥🔥🔥 song crazy

[@angermanagementstudios]

It’s this simple: I wouldn’t trust any massive company as far as I could piss them. And record labels and Spotify are as massive and thus crooked as they come.

[@realreggaelutionrecords]

thousands of small artists just got an email from spotify , claiming they had 100% fake streams and they been pulled. I't a cull due to oversaturation. The labels and spotify are in colabs

[@user-vp2fh5kw8v]

ok now fire alert BUSINESS that song going hard!!!!!

[@elninosabe]

Great video !

[@TheTrueChrisA.K.]

Wasn't sure if saw where said it in the chat before, but Columbia is a subsidary of Sony, who's under RCA's umbrella with their labels. My guess is they were makin' the same move UMG did early on. Thanks 4 the info as always, Curtiss 🫡🙏🏼🤲🏼✊🏼🛠💯

[@chiefchristopherkru2676]

We as music artists alike all have some knowledge of this happening Idc if you're Indie, signed or upcoming. We should all as a collective stop giving our art to these DSP's until they decide to start treating us as they should... no artists = no DSP We're more valuable than perceived 💯✊🏾

[@Shawneverette]

Curtiss I am not into Hip Hop at all besides the Cross Movement, But Your vocals on the track in this video is "DOPE"!!! It sounds like you added distortion to your vocal. It just sounds gritty and phat. Very Very cool bro!

[@playorban]

mehn your editing is crazy

[@bigj1458]

russ be always exposin the industry...we need people like shawty

[@dosageify]

Got it, true but what if that is how overall marketz are doing outside music? Mining, factories and stuff

[@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS]

I figured this out because my music is crazy 🔥 I mean I'm *ONE OF THE BEST FREESTYLE RAPPERS IN THE WORLD* 🌎 ofcourse people don't want to say it. But my fans are growing. I appreciate eirbody too. 🔥 but it's a slow rise. Authentic. 3 years in is kinda quick.

[@astargmoneynevaendz999]

It's obvious how many people are there and devices world wide there be more plays and users than there are people

[@CaptHiltz]

The average music listener has no idea of how the business is run. I have talked to people about Spotify royalties work and how we get paid (or won't now because of the 1,000 stream threshold) and they just don't what happens. It's still just some sort magical, mysterious process to them. This is how the major labels are able to pull this off. Hell, too many artists don't know what's going and that's how the labels are able to manipulate them.

[@PdWOLFG4NG]

15:02 solid 👊🏽😎

[@kingsleybaby]

Russ has changed my life forever. Kisses

[@iAmL3J3ND]

He was saying what you been saying for years tbh 😂 nice video tho this type of content keeps my head straight!

[@Judson_215]

Thank you for this information this sounds like famous artists paying to perform at the Super bowl .

[@frescolive]

So imagine how they was manipulating sales before the internet. Now think about Eminem………

[@xfacta334]

"What type of "partner" would do that to the artist knowing that it would compromise their artistry?" The same "partners" that invite you to the "parties" to "network" as long as you cool with compromising your intergity before, during and especially after you accept that invite. It all goes together.

[@HarryClipzFilmz]

Eyes wide shut shyt

[@juanespinosa42]

Im going to tell you the truth, The trick to trigger the algorithm to get on editorials is…. Botstreams that simple 👌🏽

[@user-bk4pm6me8i]

It seems that all record companies acquired Spotify shares as part of a deal following their lawsuits against the streaming service. 10:24

[@jfern58]

This is very interesting

[@lmenascojr]

You don’t seem to realize that this has always been a part of the music biz - it’s just another form of payola tailored to the new technology. We need to get back to the music curators, ie, the radio dj’s (but now they can broadcast directly from the net instead of having to have an AM or FM radio station to broadcast on), and they need to be getting their cut directly from the artist via the publishing and not from the bankers, ie, the record companies. The bankers need to be nothing more than just that - bankers who get the same rate of return on a loan given to make music as a car loan or a CC loan instead of getting the lion’s share of the pie!

[@timba2647]

I was telling people this in 2019 out at SXSW freestyle sessions.

[@andiherzog]

Somewhat surprising but somewhat expected, music streaming shook up the music industry by allowing artists to succeed independently of labels. However, in response, labels have resorted to shady tactics to reclaim their power, as usual.

[@PuffinPass]

6:05 That is the most circlejerk excuse to never end the practice for anyone involved. No matter who fixes it they stand to lose millions if not billions of dollars because everyone is taking a cut along the way. It is just insane because you just know it is how music works from this point forward, most likely it always has going back to the not so far past with the payola scandals, just a new way of doing it is all.

[@phrelancelotmusic]

Look into his eyes is a little Jonny Brasco 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@iLLStaticProductionsBeats]

i suspected this for years bro that streams and views on youtube were being faked by the record companies

[@xFarce]

Follow the money! Peeking behind the curtains always ends with money. We see people with Pokémon Go farms, imagine a company with financial incentive and leverage.

[@orgdjdoublea354]

This is a true story I went to records company and they told me they signed whack Artis whack and use them as tax write off

[@MusicianTracks]

Wow !!!

[@rivaltheproducer]

This is crazy because they do the same for cds. They will buy the cds to pay for more “fans”. When I went to school at Full Sail. My teacher for music business, showed me this to help me with a project I was working on.

[@issdeonlilchannel]

Not just the labels, but the DSP’s as well. United Masters also allocates fake streams.

[@OLLIE-ILL]

You see this happen when an established label signed artist drops a video on youtube. The view count, which isn't even displayed in real time, will have 10-20 million views in minutes which realistically isn't possible unless you have computers instantly pumping up a fake view count.

[@radmediaentertainment4180]

Tried doing business...🔥🔥🔥🙏🏿✔️

[@DarevBeatsgotthefire]

Insane

[@JSoulKeys]

When it gets to the stage of releasing music, I'm prolly gonna never release it on streaming platforms. I beleive my music had more value than "pennies" and really am going to concentrate on going direct to consumer from the start when I release my rnb LoFi album

[@ohlosha]

goated

[@YesMayhem7]

Every business needs an audit and to audit themselves if you want to avoid getting too deep into a loss, want every penny and to be aware how to maximize your profits. That's business. I always wanted to learn bass. I never took the time to buy a bass and learn. There are all these bands now on KZbin. People out in the country, all over the world who went out and bought an instrument. Played simple instrument lines that sounded pretty good, also played horrible complicated songs until they got it right. But kept playing, and now they are making their own music. They play in bands. They have their own mini studios at home learning how to record. They're making deals with restaurants to play and make it lit.

[@bboymac84]

So they can make you look good so they look good

[@beunmin6]

Social Proofing as well, followers, likes, etc. where popular is drawn towards something popular.

[@Khofa]

As artists we should all know this by now. I know we on the subject of Spotify but I remember when tidal got crack for fake streams years back. When everyone was getting big payouts from tidal.

[@backalleyofficialkennels]

That Rap was FIRE

[@kamakazikenji]

Juicing The Numbers. DIRECT TO CONSUMER THE ONLY WAY

[@eddied6060]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...just follow the yellow brick road baby.

[@CyrusAugustus]

What kind of partner OWNS you, your likeness, and everything you touch or create universally & forever? (*possibly including soul 🤣) In fact.. in what way DOES a major record contract even resemble the dictionary or legal definition of the word "partnership" whatsoever? 🤔 Yet the independent diy journey is so long, so lonely, so hard on a person mentally & emotionally, the abyss so dark and empty, the trials so severe, the dead-time that just never seems to come to any conclusion, the gaslighting & judgements of others/society, the impossible standards & fake rags-to-riches narrative we compete with & compare ourselves to; over time it just becomes so overwhelming & breaks you down so badly; (**at least for me, not sure about everyone else, but I think it's pretty damn similar for most of us; although it's not just the artistic journey it's life in general too, it's all one big life mission & struggle now for me, year 7 and Idk how I even made it through the last slump, I really don't; but I digress..); Even knowing everything I know about the industry, after all Ive been through, learned, developed, and built; knowing I can literally now do every aspect of music from start to finish entirely myself, and MOST related things, all at a very high level, some IMO about to hit a world class level with the new tracks/album (*lyrically for one), and I'm absolutely positive at this point that I can make this indie thing work if I can just hold on long enough to get this new batch of music finished/released, and figure out some kind of solution to my absolute lack of funding & effective marketing.... Even though I've climbed so far from rock bottom where I started, and am on the verge of it all coming together finally, (**BTW.. the day I can cover all my bases and just focus on the music & my label & growth... is the day I consider myself a successful independent, I'll cry tears of joy I can't even describe, I'm tearing up rn just having allowed myself to visualize it for a second; so anyway, I don't NEED fame & fortune on some ridiculous level, I just need my bases covered so I can create the great body of work I know I have in me, and impact the world in some way that helps others through THEIR abyss, and find THEIR true path... and prove that it's not all just a waste and not worth trying, and find a way where there seems to be none); I STILL catch myself developing little fantasy scenarios in my mind where I'm "making it" in that fake negative sellout way, and meeting & working with my "idols", etc.. ...and I often still wonder if after everything, if let's say Dr Dre/Eminem called me, wanted to sign me and get me in the studio with them ASAP.. and all of a sudden I was in that situation, (*hypothetically obviously); What would I do? Could I even POSSIBLY stop myself?? (*is the REAL ?) Would I tell myself Im just looking into it, seeing what it's all about, any red flags and I'm out... knowing damn well there WILL be red flags and it WILL NOT be what I wanna do with my artistry and life.... would I let myself start to believe in the fantasy and stop calling things as I see them and standing up for what I believe in, let worse & worse things slide, pretend it was ok, justify it all, play the victim bc I've just been through too much and HAD TO take the deal???? I find it absolutely TERRIFYING that these are even still questions inside me, straight up. 💯 *SIDE NOTE: We need our own truly independent PEOPLE'S MUSIC INDUSTRY that's what we need, our own space, cut ties, entire industry & infrastructure, anyone interested in reading or discussing such ideas further, check out my Discord Server... discord.com/invite/u664ZsbSUB But yeah... it's messed up, the whole situation for TRUE-independent artists. Just thought I'd put my thoughts out there about it. BTW CURTIS... That song was 🔥🔥🔥 bruh! VERY well written, dope, meaningful lyrics, great verse overall, delivery on point too.. awesome job! I knew you made music but had never actually checked it out, I'll give some more of your music a listen today. Great video as well! 💯 ✌️😎 🔹️🔷️CYRUS🔷️🔹️

[@RealaRealz]

Want to ball but you never come to practice!!!! sheesh!!!

[@GrammarProductions]

I wouldn't say you're an employee. You're actually more like a contractor. And you could never expect to get fair market value if you're not going direct to consumer. So either way you slice it, you have to bank roll your situation or someone else will, and they get to set the terms of the agreement. Simple math.

[@Kanubis1]

lets not ignore the message in that shirt

[@bettyannemackenzie391]

Game over check mate😅

[@amptrascope]

What’s crazy is this….. folks talking about how the industry does not have folks making real music on a high level, but who would buy it? Look, R&B is all but dead in the black community. Who is supporting jazz? Who supports classical? Who supports the blues? Most blues concerts are filled with mostly white folks. Also when you consider that almost everybody is use to getting music for free, and almost everybody including grandma and grandpa are downloading songs they like for free, and or streaming them on KZbin etc, the hole gets bigger and bigger. This thing is deep. Back in the day, you had to know music in order to make music, and this lead to unique sounds and energy coming from the souls of musician’s. Well now they have programs that will play chords for you, loop a beat, and sing for you too, and what’s crazy is the music that is produced using the artifacts that are so popular today, is the main music that is halfway selling in America. A Mozart piece is just as sophisticated today as it was 200 years ago, however, over time the sophistication of the American listener has declined, and most just want to hear a beat and some basic lyrical and musical melodies, supported by auto-tune and other effects. Some of the greatest artists have put out great music and they sold 2 copies, one to their mother, and one they bought themselves. My point, is musicians survival is dictated by the demand of the consumer in a greater part, and what the consumer is vibing on is processed data driven music today. Last…. Streaming was generally bad for the industry, and the destruction of mechanical royalties from physical sales is a serious blow and it changed the trajectory of the business. At one time, publishing was the financial backbone of the industry.

[@abysmalvsmarcus]

Welp, im doing things independently from this point. Just downloaded FL Studio and im just gonna start rapping

[@ayenteethelyricist]

Hear me out. What if…all these weird stories of smaller artists getting songs removed for bought/bot streams is just Spotify cooking their books. If Spotify themselves are selling streams to labels (or even just employees in the company doing it under the table) and spreading those paid for bot streams among millions of small Indy artists hoping no one would notice.

[@user-wc8vv2os2e]

Russ can go into sale and marketing 😂

[@DJFrizzie]

And you had to use Davido signing the paper...hahaha

[@midlifeadventures3138]

while streaming is removing "not those accounts" for fake streams.

[@v33patrick]

We just gonna run own label! Still work for all our charities! And Let God do the booking!

[@johnnyleestarkey]

When I started I was buying streams I thought I was going to be famous but then I started noticing nobody ever came back I stopped buying them after that but I thought I had it made

[@CaptHiltz]

And now with the 1,000 stream threshold if someone gets 800 streams per song for example and you have 30 to 50 songs on the platform and you build up around $100 or $150 they won't pay you. This is what they really meant when Spotify said they wanted to shift the royalties to "real" artists. In other words to the labels.

[@Bigervexpress]

The biggest scam artist out now is Cardi B!!! She’s never been on a solo tour… she couldn’t sell 2k tickets to a show to save her life 😂😂

[@alternativetentacles1760]

I’m a SZA fan and couldn’t get into that Drake song she was featured on. Speaking of Spotify, just this past week Ariana Grande posted a video to her Instagram going down memory lane of all her top Spotify songs. It definitely looks like she’s fulfilling an obligation to promote Spotify. She’s probably one of the artists getting fake streams.

[@wallace870]

COAST CONTRA… DIY dope young Genius’ - “AYO!” 😮

[@cassidyraebarrera]

It's kind of funny tho because Russ still on streaming too. This is interesting to learn about tho and see what's really going on.

[@Kryssthealien]

Come on, stop being shy, say the name we all think about... One Dance [Views] - 3,850,000 streams, God's Plan [Scorpion] - 3,375,000. Hotline Bling [Views] - 1,952,000.Passionfruit [More Life] - 1,933,000....

[@frankcoronabeats]

I Deleted Distrokid. Can’t Support anyone who only wants to pay Artists in Cents ☠️

[@ImNotNotAllCityChi]

The truth and everything you need to know is right there within the first minute of the video marketing budget. That’s how these are get screwed over because of the marketing budget. That’s why Universal doesn’t want. Artists promoting things on TikTok, because of an artist could just go viral with a TikTok dance that’s all the marketing that you needto get your song played but the marketing budget also comes out of your advance and is how they would attack on extra stuff to keep you in the red after a platinum album