Spotify wins permanent dismissal of lawsuit claiming it ignored ‘billions’ of fraudulent Drake streams
A US federal judge has permanently dismissed rapper RBX’s lawsuit alleging Spotify allowed bots to inflate Drake’s streams and reduce royalties paid to other rights holders. The ruling ends the case and prevents RBX from bringing the same claims again, finding that Spotify had no legal duty to protect him from third-party bots.
RBX, whose legal name is Eric Dwayne Collins, filed the case in November 2025 on behalf of US music rights holders. His complaint alleged that a substantial share of Drake’s roughly 37 billion Spotify streams over a 48-month period through 2025 were fake, diverting at least $600 million in royalties. Spotify’s monthly royalty pool is divided according to each track’s share of streams in a market; the complaint also challenged the platform’s enforcement of anti-fraud rules and its 1,000-stream annual threshold for royalty eligibility.
In short
- A judge permanently dismissed RBX’s lawsuit against Spotify.
- The complaint alleged fake Drake streams diverted at least $600 million.
- The ruling found Spotify had no duty to protect RBX from bots.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Spotify’s strongest case is that it cannot be legally responsible for every act of third-party fraud on its platform unless it has a specific duty to prevent it. A permanent dismissal may also protect predictable royalty rules and avoid imposing liability based on allegations that were not established in court.
The case against
Rights holders’ strongest case is that knowingly unchecked fake streams could shift a shared royalty pool away from legitimate artists, making effective fraud controls central to fair payment. They could argue that a platform which sets the payment rules and enforces anti-fraud policies should face accountability if its safeguards fail, while the 1,000-stream threshold may leave some creators without royalties.
Explained simply
Spotify is a music streaming service where listeners play tracks online. It pays royalties from monthly pools, with each track receiving a share based on its proportion of streams in a market; the money ultimately goes to artists and other rights holders under their agreements.
RBX, whose legal name is Eric Dwayne Collins, is a rapper and music rights holder. His case concerned whether automated accounts, often called bots, could inflate a track’s stream count and affect how royalties are divided among rights holders.
The dispute also raised questions about Spotify’s anti-fraud rules and its minimum annual stream count for royalty eligibility. The judge’s finding that Spotify had no legal duty to protect RBX from third-party bots helps define the platform’s responsibility in such disputes.