[e98cuenc]

A subtle disadvantage of the Pro Rata model is that content creators in the platform can trivially exploit it.

If a content creator subscribes to Spotify as a user and streams non-stop his own music, he will receive from Spotify more than the cost of the subscription.

Repeat that a few times, and download here and there tracks from other random artists to cover your tracks, and the schema may work.

[satyrnein]

This is sometimes called "juicing" and streaming services monitor for it. It's possible they underspend on it (since decreasing it doesn't help their bottom line) but all the players are very aware of it.