Already last week, Spotify hinted that it was manipulated listener numbers that were behind the decision to remove Rasmus Gozzi and Frökens Snusk’s songs at the beginning of the year.
Now Dagens Nyheter tells more about the background.
“Ride me like a dala horse” was removed
According to the newspaper, Spotify had suspected for several months that the artists’ listening figures were manipulated. When the streams for two of the duo’s songs suddenly increased, it was decided to take them down from the platform, a decision that The evening paper was the first to report.
Even the industry organization Ifpi – which is responsible for Sweden’s official top list – picked two songs, “Gynekologen” and the super hit “Ride mig som en dalahäst”, from its list.
“The Gynecologist” was the most played song
According to DN, plays for the song “Gynekologen” increased by over 140,000 plays in one day, from 40,000 to 184,000. The increase made the song Sweden’s most played, several months after the song was released.
The next day the currents were back to normal levels. On December 26, the same pattern was repeated.
Will release all songs again
The artist duo themselves have said that they will release 490 songs in February. “February 4th we write music history!”, writes Ms. Snusk on Instagram.
It is not clear where the music will be released or whether it is old or new songs.