Afrobeats singer Hotkeed has criticised the growing use of streaming farms in the Nigerian music industry, arguing that artificially inflated numbers could be denying genuine artistes opportunities.
The singer claimed that he is aware of at least 50 Nigerian artistes who allegedly use streaming farms to increase their numbers on digital music platforms.
Hotkeed made the allegation during a recent interview with content creator Jbrandy.
He argued that the practice goes beyond inflating an individual artiste’s statistics, saying it also affects the visibility and opportunities available to musicians who rely on organic listeners.
“If 20 artists are stream farming, you have taken 20 genuine artists back. If 50 artists are stream farming, you have taken 50 genuine artists back. It’s that bad,” he said.
The singer questioned why artistes would resort to artificial streams instead of allowing their music to grow through genuine audience engagement.
“Why can’t those who are using streaming farms wait to gain genuine streams? Why are you in a hurry?” he asked.
Hotkeed also criticised artistes who, he alleged, use artificially generated streams before presenting the figures on social media as evidence of their popularity.
According to him, some individuals involved in providing streaming-farm services have approached him directly and attempted to persuade him to use their services.
“I know those who are stream farming because the people doing it for them approached me and told me to see what they have done for them and that I should also patronise them,” he said.
He further warned that he would publicly identify any artiste using streaming farms if the person had a personal disagreement with him.
“If any of those artists using streaming farms ever cross my lane, I would expose them,” he stated.
Rather than rely on inflated figures, Hotkeed said he would prefer a smaller number of genuine listeners.
“I will rather have 2,000 streams than deceiving myself with 2 million fake streams,” he said.
Streaming farms generally involve coordinated or automated listening activity designed to artificially increase play counts on digital platforms. Such practices can distort streaming figures and potentially affect how songs are ranked, promoted or monetised.
Hotkeed’s comments have brought renewed attention to the debate over authenticity, competition and the reliability of streaming numbers in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding music industry.
The artistes he referred to were not identified, and the allegations have not been independently verified.
