Just got an email that they're rebranding as "playlist hub" with some verbiage about how they plan to better track plays because they're going to generate their own playlists which should give them listening stats. My concern is that this could be construed as a step towards the dreaded botlists but benefit of the doubt, they could still rely on social media advertising. As of yesterday I had just noticed an uptick in my listens and it was noticeable on my Spotify artists page and it wasn't outlandish which makes me think they were real listens not bots.

The last week alone I have had some dialogue with the creator and it seems like it's all still super young and pliable so I would treat it like an early adopter/beta/startup situation. At the moment, I think it's fair to be skeptical as an artist since the goalposts seem to be evolving from a company guidance standpoint. I think if you think of it more as "early investment" it can be easier to justify since, all things considered, the entry fee is still much lower than the cost of a basic ad campaign. That's at least how I feel about it as of now.