Legendary musician, Reggie Rockstone has called out some of his fellow artists for allegedly engaging in the dubious practice of buying streams to artificially boost their music’s popularity.
Speaking on Cape Coast’s Property FM, Rockstone expressed deep concern over the lack of authenticity in the soaring streaming numbers claimed by many Ghanaian musicians.
He went on to highlight the use of streaming farms, where artists employ various tactics to inflate their streaming figures.
“The huge number of streams some musicians get are sometimes not genuine because they have streaming farms. The corruption that has infiltrated into music nowadays is a whole topic for another day that we need to discuss,” Rockstone asserted.
However, Rockstone’s criticism extended beyond just the artists themselves. He pointed fingers at the creators of popular digital streaming platforms, including the likes of Spotify, suggesting that they are profiting significantly at the expense of Ghanaian musicians.
He emphasized that the revenue generated predominantly benefits individuals from other parts of the world.
“The white people are really enjoying our money out of the digital streaming platforms they’ve created like Spotify and the rest. They’re really spending our money, and they always find a new way to rip, so we have a lot of things that we have to look at,” Rockstone lamented.
This revelation brings to light the challenges faced by artists in the digital age, raising important questions about the authenticity of streaming numbers and the equitable distribution of revenue within the music industry.