Spotify has removed about 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd’s hit song “Earrings” days after the song topped the platform’s daily U.S. chart for the first time, as its surge has been tied to manipulation based around bets on the prediction market Kalshi.
Spotify has asked both Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its logos from their websites, a source at the company confirms to The Hollywood Reporter, further underlining that the streaming service has never had a partnership with either company.
“All streaming services face ever-changing stream manipulation,” the company said in a statement. “Spotify has best in class detection and mitigation practices for manipulated streams, and we don’t pay out associated royalties.”
As of this story’s publication, there’s no suggestion Todd or his team was affiliated with the streaming manipulation. Todd is one of the industry’s fastest-rising acts, and “Earrings” has been floating within the top 5 of Spotify’s daily U.S. chart for weeks, which helped the song in being a ripe target for manipulation from bettors. On Sunday, the song was sitting at Number Four on Spotify’s daily chart, and by Monday, the song hit Number One. The Financial Times reported that the daily jump represented a 70 percent climb. “Earrings” has stuck at Number 3 on Spotify’s chart for the past two days.
A Spotify source told THR that given the activity, Spotify would be “adding additional checks to the charts before they’re published.”
A representative for Kalshi said that “we’re in touch with Spotify and are actively investigating this matter.”
The incident reflects potential broader industry-wide issues that could be surfacing as prediction markets have turned the entertainment business’s charts into bonafide betting lines. As of this story’s publication, Kalshi lists dozens of different props based on results for charts from Spotify and Billboard. The streaming services had already seen some level of attempted chart manipulation for years in both more nefarious fraud schemes as well as stan armies trying to help their favorite acts top the charts. The notion that the average music listener can now profit on results they have a chance to manipulate only further incentivizes the activity.
Outside of the music charts, earlier this year a MrBeast editor was accused of insider trading over the YouTuber’s videos on Kalshi.
Still, while issues abound, the prediction markets are seeking to further embed themselves into Hollywood. Polymarket entered into a partnership with the Golden Globes earlier this year, and Kalshi has struck deals with the likes of CNN, CNBC and Fox News.
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