Not sure why you're getting downvoted, I'm wondering something similar. Anecdotally (and maybe incorrectly), I'd expect people who listen to a lot of indie music to stream more songs per month than those who listen to pop & big label music, which means that big labels would be making less money if they get paid per stream than per user? Obviously there are probably many other factors, I'd love to see the numbers.
I find the explanation easier to believe that "per stream" is a much simpler & transparent system for the artists that causes less outrage towards Spotify[0]. And to cater to big labels, Spotify just increases their specific per-stream rate (as parent's article explains).
Still, it causes issues like the botting ones in the OP. I don't know, it's really hard to make a conclusion here without the actual numbers.
[0] Imagine you get more streams but less money than your friend with the same indie deal, just because his listeners listen to less music overall. You could convince ME that it's fair from an outsider perspective... but probably not an artist who's trying to make a living.
I find the explanation easier to believe that "per stream" is a much simpler & transparent system for the artists that causes less outrage towards Spotify[0]. And to cater to big labels, Spotify just increases their specific per-stream rate (as parent's article explains).
Still, it causes issues like the botting ones in the OP. I don't know, it's really hard to make a conclusion here without the actual numbers.
[0] Imagine you get more streams but less money than your friend with the same indie deal, just because his listeners listen to less music overall. You could convince ME that it's fair from an outsider perspective... but probably not an artist who's trying to make a living.