A guy in Bulgaria scammed $1 MILLION out of Spotify

Spotify pays around $0.004 every time someone streams a song for at least 30 seconds
So he uploaded 467 tracks that were all barely over 30 seconds
After this he bought 1,200 Spotify Premium accounts, set them to loop his playlist 24/7 and sat back
Those 1,200 bots generated 72 million streams a month, which accounted for over $400,000 in royalties from only $12,000 worth of subscriptions.
The playlists were called "Soulful Music" and "Music From The Heart"
Both made it into Spotify's global top charts and "Soulful Music" hit number 11 in the US, higher than any major label playlist at the time
Meanwhile the whole operation was showing up in Spotify's own weekly revenue reports
They sent that data to record labels every single week for months and nobody noticed it
The craziest part is none of it was illegal
The accounts were paid for with real money, real premium subscribers streamed the songs and every upload had valid copyright
When journalists reached out for comment, a Spotify spokesperson refused to even call it a scam
He only got caught because he got too successful. Breaking into the top 50 made one major label executive look twice at the charts
By the time Spotify deleted the tracks in October 2017, he had already pulled over $1 million in royalties
Years later an American named Michael Smith tried to do the same scheme with AI generated music and 10,000 bot accounts
He made $10 million in royalties but to make it work he had to buy bulk email addresses, lie directly to Spotify when they flagged him and pay for subscriptions using fake names on corporate debit cards
Those lies turned the whole operation into wire fraud
The DOJ busted him in 2024, he pleaded guilty and had to return $8 million
Same scam, different execution and a small detail changed the entire outcome
One guy became rich, the other is waiting for his sentencing