So someone arbitraged the cost of receiving + uploading a stream against Spotify's payment terms?
Would this have made any difference if a person was listening to those streams?
The fundamental "problem" for Spotify is that this arbitrage exists. It's unclear if any analogous behaviour would count as fraud.
Eg., if a taxi company pays $x/mile, and fares are $y/mile, and f(x - y) is "just right", I can drive around with an empty taxi and make money.
It "feels" like fraud because it's free money, which is basically what arbitrage is -- but in most cases we think its the market's problem to fix, not a legal one.
If this approach involved paying for lots of user accounts, using those accounts to stream music, uploading that music yourself, generating that music etc... then there shouldn't actually be a problem. You have paid for the songs you've listened to.
So spotify should have, in place, some system to stop users listening to more songs than their subscription covers. If they arent doing this, then the law isn't going to help. Their biz model has a clear iteration-to-zero in it.
Would this have made any difference if a person was listening to those streams?
The fundamental "problem" for Spotify is that this arbitrage exists. It's unclear if any analogous behaviour would count as fraud.
Eg., if a taxi company pays $x/mile, and fares are $y/mile, and f(x - y) is "just right", I can drive around with an empty taxi and make money.
It "feels" like fraud because it's free money, which is basically what arbitrage is -- but in most cases we think its the market's problem to fix, not a legal one.
If this approach involved paying for lots of user accounts, using those accounts to stream music, uploading that music yourself, generating that music etc... then there shouldn't actually be a problem. You have paid for the songs you've listened to.
So spotify should have, in place, some system to stop users listening to more songs than their subscription covers. If they arent doing this, then the law isn't going to help. Their biz model has a clear iteration-to-zero in it.