Spotify, the Swedish audio streaming giant, asked Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its branding from their platforms and clarify that neither company has a partnership with the streaming service, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Per a source familiar with the matter, the request came after Spotify found and removed more than 500,000 artificial streams that had helped send "Earrings," a song by Malcolm Todd, into one of the top spots on its U.S. charts.
- The issue had already spilled into markets.
- Kalshi had used Spotify's published rankings to settle a June market on the most-streamed song in the U.S., which reportedly attracted about $3 million in trading.
- Todd was declared one of the winners before Spotify completed its review.
Kalshi told Bloomberg it was in touch with Spotify and investigating the matter. Polymarket made no comments, the report reads.
- Before the suspicious streaming activity, Kalshi odds of Todd finishing June with the top song were reportedly below 3%, meaning early buyers may have earned roughly 30 times their stakes.
- Spotify told Bloomberg streaming platforms face constant manipulation attempts and that it doesn't pay royalties on manipulated streams.