Music listeners and fans using Apple Music in Nigeria were thrown into a frenzy when they found out that Wizkid’s recent release ‘Kese (Dance)’ miraculously disappeared from the top 100 Nigeria playlist on the platform.
Normally, songs that disappear in this fashion are generally assumed to be ‘taken down’ by the platform due to stream farming or illegal activities, and fans do not waste time jumping on the issue. They immediately take the situation and turn it into banter material against the artist. A memorable incident was one involving Jamopyper, when the artist released Nonstop and it miraculously appeared in the number one position on the charts. For many, it was their first encounter with the song and it was taken down from the platform after few hours. When it appeared back on the platform, it came back in at number 155, suggesting that a discrepancy had been rectified.
Other fan bases immediately started weaponizing the situation against Wizkid and Starboy FC, accusing him of stream-farming his way to the number one spot. They designed banners and labeled the song as missing, trending the hashtag #FindingKese on X.
This is the 4th time this ‘glitch’ will be happening this year with the Apple Music Nigeria top 100 charts. The first time was with Burna’s I Told Them, Asake’s Active, and Seyi Vibez’s Instagram.
Wizkid’s fan base was quick to jump to the defense of their idol, as they pointed out similar cases where songs had disappeared from the charts and later reappeared. On May 20, 2022, Burna Boy’s Last Last notably went off Apple Music for hours only to reappear at the number one spot. In the same year, Omah Lay’s Damn with 6lack appeared on the number 1 spot hours after he released his Boy Alone album. It raised eyebrows because the song wasn’t on the album and was released in December 2020.
The issue seems to now be resolved as Kese is back on the playlist at the number one spot. This also addresses the stream farming allegations against Wiz as if that was the case, it most likely wouldn’t go back to the top of the playlist.
A tweet made by Wizkid about an hour ago captioned “Tracklist 7pm naija time” gives perspective to why the song would disappear momentarily in the first place. He posted that in reference to his Morayo Album scheduled to drop this Friday, and the album’s tracklist and sequencing was being edited on the backend.
For educational purposes, a song could come off a chart for any of these reasons:
1 Chart Manipulation Detection
2 Intentional Label or Artist Action
3 Seasonality or Event-Based Promotions Ending
4 Licensing or Copyright Issues
5 Censorship or Policy Violations
6 Fraudulent Metadata or Label Issues
7 Algorithm Adjustments or Recalculations
Stream-farming in the Nigerian music market appears to be a pandemic. Streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify are currently investing in technologies that monitor streaming activities to find even the smallest possibility of fraud. Apple Music recently claimed to be taking its crackdown a step further by combining technology with a human approach through a dedicated team of experts around the world tasked with round-the-clock coverage of streaming activities. Read more here.
Spotify verifies streams before adding them in real time. This then translates to charting positions to reduce the chances of manipulation. In cases where manipulations are detected, Apple Music, for example, deducts them in near real-time which accounts for the sporadic drop of songs on the Apple Music Nigeria Top 100 charts.
DSPS now carry out forensic audits of streams to ensure all streams are purely organic and happen in real-time. Red flags such as multiple accounts associated with the same credit card or a volume of streams coming from the same area are ways stream farming activities are detected and curbed.
This year, the industry has moved towards a deep worship of streaming charts. An era where success is defined by when the song stamps down a number-one spot on the charts. Previously, we saw fan accounts celebrating local chart success but this year has seen more and more artists point to charting on the first day of release as a sign of success. This can put some form of pressure on both the artist and their handlers when the song doesn’t do as expected, even when supplemented with aggressive marketing.
In the words of Mavin CEO Tega Oghenejobo in an Interview he did with Okay Africa, “I think the chart is an information tool. It tells you what people on a particular platform are listening to. It’s a reflection of what people have chosen to listen to over a particular period. So I see it a lot on Twitter streets that the chart is changing real quick. I don’t think it’s changing the way we create, I think it’s informing us of what people want to either hear or are already listening to.”
Fans of the genre need to learn the rules behind playlists and the numerous reasons why a song could be taken down momentarily. At the end of the day, playlists are not necessarily a measure of success but rather should be seen as an information tool to point out where a song is gaining momentum. It is also used to break songs into new markets. In simpler words, playlists are promotion tools, not success indicators.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or position of NetNg or its editorial team.
