Spotify Is Allegedly Filling Out Its Playlists with "Ghost Artists" to Minimize Royalty Expenditures, Increase Profit Margins

Spotify -- who pays artists between $0.003 and $0.005 every time a track is streamed on its platform -- has allegedly been filling out its playlists with tracks from "ghost artists" to minimize its royalty expenditures and increase its profit margins. Per a report from Harper's Magazine following a multi-year investigation, Spotify has been working with what the report describes as a "web" of production companies to pad out its playlists in genres like jazz, lo-fi hip-hop, ambient and classical....