✨Yet another reason why Decentralized music is the best space for independent artists like me ✨:

One morning I woke up to an unsettling email from my distribuor, "We've been notified by Spotify that they've removed your release due to artificial streaming: 'Never Knew'...We haven't been given any additional information...and have no way to help or appeal Spotify's decision. Sorry for any inconvenience this caused..."

I quickly opened Spotify and sure enough my single "Never Knew" was gone - No clear path for appeal nor an explanation as to what playlist was the culprit.

As an independent artist, I have to use third party playlist curators to promote releases on major streaming platforms. I've only used SubmitHub and Groover, which are supposed to be sanctioned by Spotify because I submit songs for consideration Not for guaranteed placement - spending money just to be heard. But that effort has gotten my music taken down without any information to avoid a possible infringement on these veiled guidelines in the future. I am fortunate that "Never Knew" was also featured on my EP, so it has not been completely removed from the platform, but what does this mean for my singles not apart of a dedicated album? Would they have been erased?

The whole experience would have left me feeling powerless and defeated if I didn't know about #v4vmusic 🙏 Thanks to the #nostr community and #v4v platforms like nostr:nprofile1qqszy58kj62v9fpe98nhuh0q76np4e0r0g0wd44rhth3wphdnyqjfzcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwvd6hyun9de6zuenedyq3yamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwccxctnfduyrnr5s independent artists, like me, finally have a space to be heard, to grow and have true autonomy over our art. 💚