How Spotify used its Perfect Fit Content program to rig its system against musicians, filling popular playlists with “ghost artists” to cut its royalty payouts
here's what's going on Nick Heer / Pixel Envy : ‘Ghosts’ of Spotify — Liz Pelly, Harpers: … Reading this article made me feel quite sad. Bluesky: @nanobii.com : the spotify “fake artist” issue apparently goes deeper than you'd think 😅 grim but eye-opening article about the reality of streaming. as if being an artist in 2024 wasn't frustrating enough... gotta admit it gets harder and harder to stay positive 🫡 — harpers.org/archive/2025... … Mathias Vermeulen / @mathver : Over 150 of spotify playlists, incl “Ambient Relaxation,"Deep Focus,"100% Lounge," “Bossa Nova Dinner,” Deep Sleep," “Morning Stretch,"are nearly entirely made up of PFC - Perfect Fit Content, or “low-budget stock muzak”, one of the company's bets to achieve profitability harpers.org/archive/2025... Robert / @robertkrahn : Noticed the same with a bunch of “ambient electronic” and EDM playlists owned by #spotify. #enshitification at its best. — www.honest-broker.com/p/the-ugly- t... Kevin Marks / @kevinmarks.com : “... Spotify understood the stakes—that when it removed real classical, jazz, & ambient artists from popular playlists & replaced them with low-budget stock muzak, it was steamrolling real music cultures, actual traditions within which artists were trying to make a living.” harpers.org/archive/2025... Tim Hollo / @timhollo : Spotify is killing music — This is a brilliant and detailed analysis of their use of fake / ghost / AI music to fill out playlists, replacing real artists to avoid paying any royalties, even the tiny crumbs they pay us real musicians — Capitalism sucks — harpers.org/archive/2025... @umaw : Streaming services encourage thinking of music as “content” rather than art made by real people - they push playlists full of anonymized, automated songs that line their pockets at the same time they fully demonetize small artists. The cure is the Living Wage for Musicians Act! [image] Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Outstanding investigation from @lizpelly.bsky.social into how Spotify is relentlessly replacing artist-driven music on its most popular playlists with anonymous Muzak harpers.org/archive/2025... [image] Lincoln Michel / @thelincoln : Perhaps related to this thread, but an article about how Spotify seemingly hires fake bands to rip off real bands and promotes the songs on the algorithms. — Once you control all the platforms, you can squeeze the actual artists out entirely. www.honest-broker.com/p/the-ugly- t... [embedded post] Rob Horning / @robhorning : streaming companies are incentivized to create indifferent consumers harpers.org/archive/2025... [image] Kyoko Kitamura / @kyokokitamura : Great read on Spotify and their troubling PFC (Perfect Fit Content) program which allegedly populates playlists with works by “ghost writers” being paid less royalty, if at all, saving money for the company. — harpers.org/archive/2025... #spotify #music #musicbusiness #musiceducation Liz Pelly / @lizpelly : For years, the public has called them “fake artists.” But internally at Spotify, the program has name: Perfect Fit Content. My investigation, and the first look into my book Mood Machine, is the January cover at @harpers.bsky.social — harpers.org/archive/2025... Damon K / @dadadrummer : Liz Pelly @lizpelly.bsky.social blows the cover off Spotify and tells the appalling story of “Perfect Fit Content” in Harper's new issue harpers.org/archive/2025... @nightrazor : Don't even act surprised. — TL;DR: Spotty is padding out playlists with “fake” artists to reduce payouts. Cory Bergman / @corybe.com : Similar to Amazon launching its own Basics line to compete with others in the store — but with less transparency. [embedded post] Bernard Zuel / @bernardzuel : For the 2 or 3 people left not convinced that Daniel Ek & Spotify are the dark evil within music (& this in an industry that contains radio & label bosses, the epitome of malevolent forces), from the indefatigable Liz Pelly. — harpers.org/archive/2025... David Bernabo / @davidbernabo : Spotify's muzak empire. — An excerpt from Liz Pelly's forthcoming book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. A great read after the barrage of Spotify's annual wage theft celebrations. — harpers.org/archive/2025... @biggsky : christ this is grim, fuck Spotify though as the article points out maybe apple music isnt much better 😮💨 harpers.org/archive/2025... @panospria : Essential reading on the royal scam that is Spotify and how their CEO Daniel Ek has been lining his pockets by devaluing music — @tedgioia.bsky.social @eboldy : I have never read a piece about spotify that doesn't scream “biggest pieces of trash in the industry” harpers.org/archive/2025... @slowmusicmovement : A great long form article by @lizpelly.bsky.social from her forthcoming book on how Spotify is “filling its most popular playlists with stock music attributed to pseudonymous musicians (ghost/fake artists) - presumably in an effort to reduce its royalty payouts” — harpers.org/archive/2025... Andy McCulloch / @funkadeefunk : I cannot stress this enough. If you're a music fan, ditch Spotify. @djregular.tech : I remember having to explain to a friend about rumors of this when they would keep recommending me all these “chillhop” artists they'd find via Spotify playlists and I'd be like, “Yeah, never heard of them.” — harpers.org/archive/2025... Eduardo Suárez / @eduardosuarez : “Spotify not only has partnerships with a web of companies which provide Spotify with music but also a team working to seed these tracks on playlists across the platform. In doing so, they are working to grow the streams of music that are cheaper for the platform” — harpers.org/archive/2025... Russell Brown / @publicaddress : Liz Pelly at Harpers gets inside Spotify's fake artists scam like no one's been able to before. It's a rum world when Joe Rogan gets a quarter of a billion dollars for his bullshit and real journalism like this is a labour of love. harpers.org/archive/2025... Alison Willmore / @alisonwillmore : Reading @lizpelly.bsky.social's Spotify piece and @tavlin.bsky.social's Netflix essay back to back is a real (bleak) vibe harpers.org/archive/2025... www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/ ess... [images] Ashwin Rodrigues / @ashwinrodrigues.com : this is nuts. I had no idea Spotify was basically the Amazon of stuff you hear. they are making Amazon Basics muzak (like “we have Nujabes at home” type shit) the artists who make the stuff call it “soulless” and people can't tell the difference. disheartening stuff — harpers.org/archive/2025... Micah Loewinger / @micahloewinger : Crazy story from @lizpelly.bsky.social — “Spotify, the rumor had it, was filling its most popular playlists with stock music attributed to pseudonymous musicians—variously called ghost or fake artists—presumably in an effort to reduce its royalty payouts.” — harpers.org/archive/2025... Mastodon: @thetonearm@social.lol : “For years, I referred to the names that would pop up on these playlists simply as ‘mystery viral artists.’ Such artists often had millions of streams on Spotify and pride of place on the company's own mood-themed playlists, which were compiled by a team of in-house curators. … Dave / @dthompson@toot.cat : this article about ghost artists on spotify is absolutely damning, imo, but the hn crowd is like “what's the problem?” — https://harpers.org/... @caitp@mstdn.social : https://www.honest-broker.com/ ... spotify creates and promotes offbrand knockoff artists to reduce the royalties owed to big names, or something like that #music #spotify Miguel Afonso Caetano / @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org : “For more than a year, I devoted myself to answering these questions. I spoke with former employees, reviewed internal Spotify records and company Slack messages, and interviewed and corresponded with numerous musicians. What I uncovered was an elaborate internal program. … @trashpandaqc@mastodon.online : fascinating/depressing investigation - this is the future of all media if people keep paying platforms rather than artists — if you want my music on streaming, learn to pirate it instead 😎 — https://harpers.org/... Dante / @dante@masto.posting.haus : new information about how dogshit awful Spotify is, who can be surprised at this point (great reporting though, no knock on that) https://harpers.org/... [image] @paco@infosec.exchange : Please don't give #spotify your time, attention, or money. They hate musicians. They hate record labels. They hate you. They love money. They're generating fake slop and stuffing their playlists full of it. They do it deceitfully by making up artist names and putting the same track out dozens of times under different names, different artists, and different playlists. … @lardmotel@mastodon.sdf.org : Spotify. If you rely on it for audience then you're trying to engage through something we used to know as MUZAK. That was a piped music service with calculated playlists for worker efficiency. Listeners of Spotify do not notice ‘ghost music’ because they are not actually listening. … Threads: Walt Mossberg / @mossbergwalt : This is yet another unethical move by Spotify. Another reason I use Apple Music (in addition to the fact that it pays artists better.) X: @jackantonoff : in this @lizpelly sums it up perfectly [image] James Toth / @jimmyjacktoth : Must-read piece here on @Harpers by @lizpelly about the data business (formerly the music business) https://harpers.org/... General Principle / @big_keez : Wow, this Harper's piece on Spotify might be the last straw in my paid account. Time to switch.. https://harpers.org/... Justin H. Vassallo / @jhv85 : An excellent article with depressing implications for the near and distant future. In the age of late neoliberal individualism, creators seem more disempowered than ever https://harpers.org/... @teakagee : This plays into my Luddite musical beliefs so hard, that almost feels too pat https://harpers.org/... Anthony Lazarus / @sr_lazarus : just like in news and journalism, people consuming music expressly prefer the fake stuff https://harpers.org/... Gregory B. Sadler / @philosopher70 : Interesting piece about Spotify's deliberate & deceptive practices: “Artists had been sold the idea that streaming was the ultimate meritocracy—that the best would rise to the top because users voted by listening. But the PFC program undermined all this.” https://harpers.org/... CalMeacham / @calsthoughts : The sad state of Spotify and the constant devaluing of independent music https://harpers.org/... Brian Crain / @briancrain : Great article about Spotify playlists and a reminder to make your own playlists out of real artists. https://harpers.org/... Glenn Mcdonald / @glenn_mcdonald : I'm enjoying the fantasy that somehow this story will result in all the internal Slack threads it mentions being published verbatim. https://harpers.org/... by @lizpelly Miguel Rocha / @98migrocha : This treatment of music as nothing but background sounds—as interchangeable tracks of generic, vibe-tagged playlist fodder—is at the heart of how music has been devalued in the streaming era. https://harpers.org/... Jeff Gray / @jgrayatua : This is a very informative expose of the “ghost musician” concept in popular streaming services used to reduce royalty payments. Excerpted from an upcoming book coming out in January (I just pre-ordered). @lizpelly @simonschuster https://harpers.org/... @zervel : Super interesting read on the ghost music of Spotify! Long as hell but was hooked through it all! Kudos @lizpelly! https://harpers.org/... @harpers : “PFC was irrefutable proof that Spotify rigged its system against musicians who knew their worth.” @lizpelly reveals Spotify's fake-artist scheme. https://harpers.org/... Amílcar Cariño Charlemagne / @elcharlemagne2 : Spotify using stock music and promoting it over other artists in order to reduce the amount of royalties it has to pay is truly disgusting work. https://harpers.org/... Kenny Torrella / @kennytorrella : Spotify is stocking its ‘mood’ playlists with filler music made by so-called ghost artists who are paid little to quickly make generic tunes, crowding out normal songs/artists — all to save the company money. https://harpers.org/... Larry Pareigis / @larrypareigis : If you read one long form piece about Spotify this year, this is the piece you need to read ASAP. https://harpers.org/... https://harpers.org/... Andreea / @diemkay : Ah yes, the “if the metrics went up, then let's just keep replacing more and more, because if the user doesn't notice, then it's fine” school of product management. A classic of the genre https://harpers.org/... @rulesdisobeyer : Spotify has everyone who uses their playlists listening to fucking royalty free elevator music lmao what the actual fuck we're so cooked https://harpers.org/... Ilias Alami / @iliasalami : Excellent, if disturbing, piece “Spotify's plot against musicians” https://harpers.org/... @niurn_writes : How Spotify is gaming the streaming model and sadly another contribution to the “enshitification” theorem by @rbrtrmstrng ( love your work rob ) https://harpers.org/... Simon Raymonde / @mrsimonraymonde : And we wonder why artists can't make money.... https://harpers.org/... @roneilr : ICYMI, Spotify's been stuffing playlists with ghost artists: https://harpers.org/... an unfortunate but predictable result of 1) the zero sum streaming model and 2) centralized curation. incentives lead to the lowest cost content to Spotify winning. we must do better. @umaw_ : ‼️NEW: Liz Pelly reveals Spotify's secret exploitation model Perfect Fit Content: thousands of songs created by underpaid, anonymous subcontractor musicians through shady production houses, prioritized by Spotify as the royalties improved its margins. [image] @harpers : Liz Pelly (@lizpelly) uncovers Spotify's Perfect Fit Content program, which aims to remove “real classical, jazz, and ambient artists from popular playlists and [replace] them with low-budget stock muzak.” https://harpers.org/... [image] @future_of_music : New bombshell report on “Ghost Artists” on Spotify from @lizpelly, with shocking accounts from inside the company. https://harpers.org/... @lawrencedonegan : I genuinely believe Spotify's treatment of musicians makes it a borderline criminal company. This piece confirms my opinion. It's a long but astonishing piece of journalism. Kudos. https://harpers.org/... Sandipto Dasgupta / @sandiptodg : Does this vindicate Adorno? Extraordinary article about how Spotify creates ‘tracks by cheap, fake artists’ to populate its playlists, to avoid royalties. Made possible by how most people consume music as ambient sound curated by pre-packaged playlists. https://harpers.org/... Joey La Neve DeFrancesco / @joeyquits : We've long suspected that Spotify was recruiting fake artists and juicing them in its algorithm and placing them on the most popular playlists. Liz Pelly collected the internal docs + other evidence to finally prove it. [image] Christopher R. Weingarten / @1000timesyes : Shout out to @lizpelly. This is the type of shenanigans that @fuzzzelnoise is meant to provide an alternative to. White noise with purpose, intent and $ going directly to artists and musicians. Harpers article: https://harpers.org/... Fuzzzel for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/... @umaw_ : Spotify's rigged system devalues music and the artists that create it, and it needs to end. This “Perfect Fit Content” exists to replace human artists with anonymized, automated noise. Read the full article by @lizpelly here: https://harpers.org/... Karon Liu / @karonliu : Bought the new issue of Harpers to read about the rise of “fake” artists on Spotify (ie: all those lofi chill morning bossa nova playlists). Article's online but my eyes can't do a 6000 word feature on a screen anymore. https://harpers.org/... [image] Joey La Neve DeFrancesco / @joeyquits : Read it here: https://harpers.org/... Even for a longtime Spotify hater, it's shocking how systematic and deliberate the fake artist program is. Eric Eitel / @alias_eitel : .@lizpelly's article, The Ghosts in the Machine, investigates @Spotify's “ghost artist” phenomenon, where playlists feature pseudonymous or stock artists. The practice foreshadows a future where #genAI marginalize artists in favor of low-cost productions https://harpers.org/... @phoneswithchrds : Friends, this is necessary reading. https://harpers.org/... LinkedIn: Owen Grover : And there you have it. The world's most prominent DSP has been actively and purposefully flattening the listening experience with generic, soulless work-for-hire dreck designed to improve margin. … Jacob Sanders : We've long suspected that Spotify was recruiting fake artists and juicing them in its algorithm and placing them on the most popular playlists, partially to reduce royalty payments to actual artists. … Cole Davis : The misaligned incentives of most platforms inevitably lead to “enshittification.” It's as certain as death and taxes. Music is no different. … Ethan Holben : Ethics, equity, and fairness in music, as well as in life, have always been of utmost importance to me. … Forums: Hacker News : The Ugly Truth About Spotify Is Finally Revealed Hacker News : The Ghosts in the Machine - Spotify's plot against musicians Hacker News : Ghost artists on Spotify r/redscarepod : Apparently a bunch of the garbage on Spotify curated lists is mass-manufactured and then attributed to fake artists so that real artists get crowded … r/TIdaL : The Ugly Truth About Spotify Is Finally Revealed r/truespotify : The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's plot against musicians r/hiphopheads : The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's plot against musicians r/Longreads : The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's plot against musicians r/musicindustry : The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's plot against musicians r/popheads : [Harper's] The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's plot against musicians See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The allegations extend a documented pattern in Spotify coverage: its interface had already favored generic, mood-oriented artist identities, while a separate episode showed how easily fraudulent albums could be attached to artist pages through distribution workflows susceptible to royalty fraud. PFC, if the reporting is borne out, would move the issue from an abuse of the platform to an alleged platform-directed sourcing strategy.
The commercial logic also echoes Spotify's earlier test of letting rights holders buy recommendation exposure at a reduced royalty rate in exchange for lower royalties. The key distinction here is the allegation that playlist supply itself was selected for lower cost, displacing working artists in genres where passive listening is concentrated.
First-order effects
- Artists whose classical, jazz, and ambient recordings lose prominent playlist placement would lose a major discovery and streaming-revenue channel, while the alleged subcontracted creators receive limited recognition and compensation.
- Spotify would face intensified scrutiny of playlist curation, royalty practices, and the separation—or lack of it—between editorial selection and cost management.
Second-order effects
- Labels and independent artists may push for clearer disclosure of playlist sourcing and commercial incentives; playlist placement becomes harder to treat as purely audience-driven when cheaper catalog can be favored.
- The allegations make the existing fake-music problem more consequential: enforcement that only removes fraudulent uploads would not address harm if low-cost, pseudonymous supply is allegedly being promoted through internal programs.
Third-order effects
- If streaming services increasingly optimize mood playlists around controllable, low-cost catalog, royalties may shift further from identifiable performers toward platform-managed supply chains, weakening the economic role of attribution.
- The durable pressure point is transparency: regulators, rights holders, and listeners may increasingly demand auditable distinctions among independent music, commissioned production, and synthetic or pseudonymous catalog.
The trend: Streaming platforms are becoming active managers of music supply, not just distributors, as recommendation and playlist systems turn catalog cost and provenance into competitive levers.