Iggy Azalea Supports Newfound Claims About Payola in Music Streaming: 'It's Time'

Iggy Azalea has once again revisited her claims that the music industry is rife with payola, specifically in regards to the streaming side of things.

A new article from Rolling Stone, which reports that instances of payola are still taking place in the industry regardless of rules in place to forbid it, prompted Azalea to share her thoughts on pay-for-play in streaming. The report asserts that major labels and streaming services signed a code of conduct to ban streaming manipulation, inflating numbers on services such as Spotify, with names such as G-Eazy popping up as artists with teams who have sought to artificially boost the performance of a song.

Iggy Azalea retweeted the article and added, “Remember when the internet said I was making up that streaming has payola worse than radio [upside down smiley face].” She followed up with another tweet, in which she expressed a sense of relief that evidence of payola in music streaming is coming to light.

She also replied to a fan who said that she was “dragged” for “days” after she had previously suggested inflated and faked streaming figures were so common. “Yup,” she said. “Literally. Glad we can see some evidence of what I’ve been seeing for years now behind the scenes. Now that we are talking how they boost songs… Let’s talk about how they black ball songs too.”

Payola in the age of streaming has been something of an open secret for years now, but the recent Rolling Stone article broke down how some of these music executives and publicity firms have sought to manipulate figures. Back in January, the Daily Dot reported that there’s a “booming” black market for Spotify playlist placement. 

Iggy Azalea has been heavily critical of payola practices in the past, having tweeted her thoughts on the situation back in 2019.