Spotify Wins Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Billions of Alleged Fake Drake Streams

A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit accusing Spotify of allowing billions of fraudulent streams for Drake and other major artists, rejecting claims that the streaming platform deliberately ignored bot activity that diverted an estimated $600 million in royalties from legitimate musicians.

U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, preventing rapper RBX, whose legal name is Eric Collins, from filing another amended complaint in the same court. The decision follows an earlier dismissal in June that gave Collins an opportunity to address shortcomings in his allegations.

The lawsuit accused Spotify of selectively enforcing its rules against artificial streaming, allegedly penalizing smaller artists while allowing suspicious activity involving commercially successful musicians to continue. Collins claimed the company benefited financially from inflated streaming numbers at the expense of independent artists.

Staton found that the amended complaint failed to provide specific facts supporting those accusations. The judge wrote that beyond conclusory assertions that Spotify ignored fraudulent streams involving artists such as Drake, Collins offered no allegations establishing how the platform selectively enforced its policies.

The court also rejected Collins' negligence claim, finding that Spotify owed him no special legal duty to protect his earnings from third-party streaming bots. His comparatively weaker position in the music industry did not create such an obligation, according to the ruling.

Claims under California's Unfair Competition Law were dismissed on similar grounds. Staton found insufficient allegations that Spotify made deceptive statements about its anti-fraud policies or enforced those rules in a manner that violated the law.

Collins originally filed the lawsuit in November 2025, alleging that billions of artificial streams had been generated for songs by Drake, whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham. The rapper was frequently cited in the complaint but was not named as a defendant.

Among the examples presented was Drake's 2024 song "No Face," which Collins alleged received approximately 250,000 suspicious streams over four days. The complaint claimed that some plays originated in Turkey but appeared to come from the United Kingdom through technology used to disguise listeners' locations.

The lawsuit alleged that Spotify's handling of artificial streams diverted at least $600 million in royalties from legitimate rights holders. Under the platform's royalty distribution system, streaming revenue is allocated according to eligible streams, meaning inflated play counts can reduce the share available to other artists and rights holders.

Spotify has maintained that it invests heavily in detecting and removing artificial streams and penalizing accounts associated with fraudulent activity. The company has pointed to its fraud prevention systems and previous enforcement actions as evidence of its efforts to protect royalty payments.

In June, Staton dismissed the original complaint while allowing Collins to revise his allegations. His amended filing in July sought to establish that Spotify applied its anti-fraud policies inconsistently, particularly when dealing with prominent artists. The judge concluded that the additional allegations still failed to establish a viable legal claim.

The dismissal with prejudice ends the proceedings in the district court and prevents Collins from pursuing another amended version of the same claims there, although he may seek appellate review. The ruling addresses the legal sufficiency of his allegations rather than determining whether the disputed Drake streams were fraudulent.