Spotify allegedly filling playlists with “ghost artists”
Harper's Magazine has published a striking report alleging that Spotify's reliance on low-cost, pseudonymous tracks in its playlists is devaluing the contributions of real musicians
A recent in-depth report by Harper’s Magazine has raised claims that Spotify is populating some of its most prominent playlists with so-called “ghost artists”. These artists, reportedly a select group of musicians, produce vast quantities of music specifically for distribution across the platform. According to journalist Liz Pelly, this approach enables Spotify to pay reduced royalty fees while bolstering its overall profit margins.
The report indicates that this practice is especially prevalent in playlists dominated by instrumental genres, such as lo-fi hip-hop, jazz, ambient and classical. Playlists like Deep Focus, boasting over 4.5 million subscribers, are highlighted as examples of those heavily reliant on what Spotify reportedly calls Perfect Fit Content (PFC).
First introduced in 2017, PFC involves collaborations with partners who create music under various aliases, filling numerous artist profiles—many of which have no other activity. By doing so, Spotify allegedly redirects royalty payouts from traditional artists to these PFC contributors. The report claims that approximately 20 songwriters are behind the music attributed to more than 500 “ghost artists”, collectively amassing millions of streams.
As Pelly explains, this approach “puts forth an image of a future in which—as streaming services push music further into the background, and normalize anonymous, low-cost playlist filler—the relationship between listener and artist might be severed completely.”
Playlists such as Ambient Relaxation, Cocktail Jazz and Bossa Nova Dinner are also mentioned in the article, with suggestions that Spotify’s editorial teams have faced pressure to adopt PFC content. Some editors and curators resistant to this strategy have allegedly been reassigned or replaced by those more amenable to incorporating ghost artists. The report further speculates that Spotify might increasingly turn to AI for playlist curation in the coming years.
You can read Pelly's full report here.
