Problems with fraudulent clicks across Germany's hip-hop scene are triggering global concerns.
BERLIN — Since September, Berlin rapper Fler has been feuding with Hamburg's Bonez MC — about buying fake streams. After Bonez's first album in eight years, Hollywood, and four of its singles topped the country's GfK music charts, Fler accused him of juicing his streaming numbers. "Everyone knows that you bought them #klicks," said Fler on Instagram Stories. Bonez responded with a chart showing that eight of Spotify's top 10 streamed songs in Germany in September were his. "People lie," he said. "Numbers don't."
Fraudulent streams are a source of particular concern in Germany, where the music business is still transitioning away from CDs — which represented 24% of revenue in 2019, according to IFPI — toward streaming. This is boosting German rap and pitting established artists like Kontra K and Capital Bra against each other as well as newcomers who they allege have been illicitly enlarging their numbers.