[nivenkos]

This doesn't make sense though - Spotify doesn't pay per stream (no-one does) but by a revenue share. So they would still pay out the same more or less - i.e. your premium subscription is put into a big pool and then divided out, it's not like your individual subscription goes to what you listened to.

I guess it could help shift some streams to indie artists with a less favourable contract compared to the big 4 record companies, but it hardly seems worthwhile?

[dublinben]

The less 'real' music you listen to, the fewer royalties that Spotify has to pay to the record labels. If you're listening to more 'fake' music, then this saves Spotify money, and increases their profit margins. This is the exact same incentive behind their push into podcasts, another kind of audio content they don't have to pay royalties on. In this case, either because it's shared freely, or because they've acquired the original publisher themselves, e.g. Gimlet Media, Parcast and The Ringer.