We’ve got some great info and FAQs on the Amuse blog.
Any companies that advertise guaranteed playlist placements or a certain number of streams as a paid service are likely to be using illegitimate practices such as bots, scripts or streaming farms. These services often look legitimate, may advertise on social media and have professional looking websites. They may even have testimonials from artists or labels they’ve worked with.
Legitimate marketing and PR companies are more likely to want to speak to you about your music project and campaign, and will provide you with details about their plans and how they intend to increase your reach.
It’s also unlikely that a legitimate playlisting, marketing or PR company would ever provide a guaranteed number of streams. They’ll generally provide you with a range of KPIs that measure a campaign’s success, and will base this information on previous campaigns they’ve run. When researching companies, please check the following information:
The legitimacy of artists or companies that have provided testimonials
If you can be connected with a specific person who will be working with your project
Online reviews / scores on sites such as Trustpilot
Social media comments about the company from other artists
The Amuse team isn't able to provide you with examples of legitimate (or non-legitimate) companies, so we’d recommend against working with any company you’re not 100% sure of.
If you suspect your fans have been repetitively listening to your music on different devices in order to show their support, we’d recommend asking them on social media to stop doing so and taking screenshots of any posts you make. This can be useful if you’re asked to provide information of action you’ve taken to lower your streamfarming figures.
Spotify also has some information about third-party companies on their website which we’d recommend reading.