It wasn’t giving Spotify similar profit, though. Their subscription pricing assumes both a) ads and b) that on average listeners won’t listen more than a certain amount, and will listen relatively broadly such that a single artist isn’t disproportionately rewarded (and thus lots of different artists find it lucrative to be on the platform, increasing its appeal).

In short, this isn’t a “cool infinite money hack” whereby you can pay a subscription fee and make it back with dividends as an artist. Instead, it’s https://xkcd.com/1494/

You need help understanding why spotify paying a man for fake users isn't being defrauded?