So one way this fraud is committed is by consuming the content (youtube videos, spotify plays, etc) and taking in the direct revenue streams.

The bigger picture is virality. Nobody wants to watch your video with 100 views. Same video with 10M views, now everyone has to watch it.

The music business has been doing this so much for so long that it's to the point where I automatically distrust everything that's "popular" as having been gamed.