Real Playlists, with Fake Streams.
Real Playlists scam – what artists need to know:
If you’re an independent artist looking to grow your audience on Spotify, you’ve probably encountered countless playlisting services claiming to boost your streams.
Unfortunately, many of these are outright scams, and based on multiple reports sent to Music Scam Alert, Real Playlists is one of them. Let’s break down the evidence and why artists should steer clear of this operation.
What’s the Verdict?
🐰 Music Scam Alert here, and we can easily confirm this one. Real Playlists is a scam.
The Scam Reports Are In
We’ve received multiple scam reports from artists who interacted with Real Playlists and its representative, Jacob Boswell. Here’s what they had to say:
Blaming DistroKid and Spotify Instead of Taking Responsibility
Another artist, who we will call Antwan, filed a complaint against Jacob Boswell, accusing him of making excuses when confronted about missing playlist placements:
“He keeps saying it’s not his company, it’s DistroKid and Spotify’s fault. But I already know they’re stealing. But damn, he can’t be stealing from me too.”
– February 3, 2025.
Rather than owning up to the scam, Boswell allegedly deflected blame onto third-party services — a classic scammer move. This is a key sign of deception, as legitimate marketing services take responsibility for their work and provide refunds or solutions when issues arise. Shifting blame is often used to create confusion and prolong the scam’s lifespan.
Offering Suspicious “Zero-Cost” Campaigns
One artist, who we will call Will, was approached by Real Playlists out of the blue with an offer that seemed too good to be true:
“We were contacted by Jacob Boswell of Real Playlists who said he came across our song ‘********’ on Spotify and offered a ‘zero-cost Spotify campaign’ with his team of curators. Curious if this playlist is legit or if it’s just bot-driven.”
– February 27, 2025
While the artist didn’t lose money, this cold outreach tactic is a red flag. Scammers often start with free offers to gain trust before pressuring artists into paid placements — many of which lead to bot streams, fake engagement, and potential Spotify penalties. Some companies also use fake testimonials and success stories to make their services appear more legitimate than they are.
Two Faces of a Bot Playlist Company:
Real Playlists and The Playlist Bros are not just similar scams — they are the same operation running under different names. Evidence from multiple sources, including Trustpilot and Reddit, links these two companies together.
The Playlist Bros has been exposed as a bot-driven playlist scam that uses fraudulent streams, leading to artists getting penalized or even having their music removed from Spotify.
Reports show that Real Playlists employs the same deceptive tactics, promising artists placements on playlists while instead feeding them into bot networks that inflate stream numbers artificially.
The key connection between these companies is their shared infrastructure — identical email templates, similar outreach strategies, and even the same PayPal addresses used for transactions, as noted by multiple victims. Not to mention, Jacob Boswell is associated with both of them.
Additionally, the review on Trustpilot explicitly states that The Playlist Bros is also behind Craft Playlists, another fake playlist service, reinforcing the idea that these scam networks frequently rebrand to avoid detection.
A Reddit thread further confirms this, with users warning that Real Playlists and The Playlist Bros are affiliated and use the same bot-driven strategies.
These findings suggest a revolving-door scam operation where the same people run different fraudulent services under new names, making it difficult for artists to track them down after they’ve been scammed.
If an artist engages with Real Playlists, they are essentially dealing with The Playlist Bros — a company already known for getting artists’ tracks flagged and removed due to artificial streaming violations.
Meet the Bad Guy: Jacob Boswell
🐰 Jacob Boswell is a 27 year old from the outskirts of Dallas, Texas – though much of his online presence has been tweaked to suggest he originates from Houston.
It’s a small and irrelevant detail in the grand scheme of things, but generally when you are running an above-board business, you want everyone to know how to contact you and where you hail from. Only scammers and vigilantes have to hide in the shadows. And Jacob is no vigilante.
Jacob likes to think of himself as a Venture Capitalist, which is an investor who, typically, already has a large sum of money to his name, and invests large amounts of it into business startups that he thinks might pay off in 3-5 years.
Jacob got a degree from Full Sail University – an online college typically only attended by people hoping to break into the arts, but with the benefit of being able to do it in their spare time online. There’s nothing wrong with Full Sail. But, they don’t have a lot of Venture Capitalists as alumni. Most of what Jacob says should be taken with a grain of salt – or a whole ocean of it.
Psychological Tactics Used by Scammers
One of the most insidious aspects of Real Playlists’ operation is how they pretend to educate artists about avoiding bot playlists while secretly adding them to their own botted playlists.
This is a common psychological tactic used by scammers to gain trust and disarm skepticism. By pretending to be against artificial streaming, they create an illusion of legitimacy, making artists less likely to question whether their placements are real.
This tactic serves multiple purposes:
- It builds credibility – Artists believe they are dealing with experts who genuinely care about their growth.
- It provides an excuse if streams seem off – If artists suspect something is wrong, the scammer can claim that “other services are the real problem,” directing blame away from themselves.
- It creates a false sense of security – Artists who believe they are avoiding scams let their guard down, making them more susceptible to deceptive marketing tactics.
- It keeps the scam alive longer – Since artists feel they’ve found a “trustworthy” source, they may continue working with Real Playlists and even recommend them to others.
This deceptive strategy preys on the artist’s trust and makes it harder to detect fraudulent activity. Real Playlists knows that artists fear bot playlists, so they manipulate that fear to make themselves seem trustworthy — all while running the very scam they warn against.
Fake Reviews
The following images reveal a disturbing pattern of deception surrounding Real Playlists and its so-called “success stories.”
🕵🏼♀️ By closely examining both positive Trustpilot reviews and promotional posts from Real Playlists’ Instagram, we uncovered a shocking truth — every single “successful artist” they showcased was either completely fabricated or had their career decimated by artificial streaming.
For some of these so-called success stories, the artist was real, and the promotion did occur, but their Spotify metrics tell a different tale.
When the Artist is Real, the Playlists Are Not…
Many now have fewer than 1,000 monthly listeners, and their most-streamed songs have been stripped of their numbers — clear evidence that Spotify detected fraudulent activity and took action. Instead of boosting these artists’ careers, Real Playlists’ services led to penalties that erased their hard-earned streams and likely damaged their ability to gain traction on the platform.
When the Person is Real, the Music is Not…
Even more disturbing, however, is the number of fake artists used to prop up Real Playlists’ reputation. Take Cameron White, for example — listed as a U.S.-based artist who left a glowing Trustpilot review. But when his photo from Trustpilot was reverse-searched using PimEyes, it led back to a completely unrelated person: a hockey player from Toronto with no known ties to music.
🥸 Whether his identity was stolen or he was somehow incentivized to write a fake review remains unclear, but what is certain is that Cameron White, the musician, does not exist.
This wasn’t an isolated case. Another supposed satisfied customer, Mathew Mitchell, was also exposed through a reverse image search. The person in his Trustpilot photo wasn’t a musician at all, but a conservationist from British Columbia.
According to his X profile, during the time his review was posted, he was knee-deep in marshes, tracking goose behavior — not using Real Playlists to promote music.
These fake testimonials weren’t just casual one-offs; they all appeared between September and November of 2024, suggesting a concentrated effort by Real Playlists to flood Trustpilot with misleading reviews to mask its fraudulent activity.
Countless other examples exist just like these. Every single positive review we investigated failed verification — either because the artist was real but had suffered irreversible damage from working with Real Playlists, or because the reviewer wasn’t an artist at all.
The evidence is clear: Real Playlists is engaging in widespread deception, using fake success stories and identity fraud to trick independent musicians into buying into a scam that could ultimately ruin their careers.
When Neither The Artist Nor the Person Is Real
One of the clearest signs of fake reviews is what we call the “World Traveler” style — a tactic where a single reviewer appears to be in multiple countries within a short period, often leaving suspiciously enthusiastic reviews in different languages.
The image above exposes a blatant example of this, where a user named Tilly Henry left a five-star review for Real Playlists in English on October 20, 2024, supposedly from the UK.
Just four days earlier, the same account posted another five-star review — this time in German, claiming to have taken an IQ test with their family in Germany.
This type of review manipulation is a common strategy for boosting fake credibility, especially for scam services looking to drown out legitimate negative feedback.
These accounts are either paid for or entirely fabricated, with their sole purpose being to create the illusion of a trustworthy business.
The reality, however, is that no real customer would be globe-trotting across countries, speaking multiple languages fluently, and conveniently leaving glowing reviews for unrelated services within the same time-frame.
This is nothing more than a coordinated fake review campaign designed to deceive artists into trusting a fraudulent company.
Real Reviews Expose the Truth
Beyond the fake success stories, there is a growing body of real, verifiable reviews exposing Real Playlists as a fraudulent operation that damages artists’ careers.
These are not just complaints from dissatisfied customers; they are firsthand accounts of artists who lost streams, were flagged for artificial activity, or never received the services they paid for.
- Anthony Andrade paid for Real Playlists’ services and was immediately ghosted. His Trustpilot review warns other artists to “watch out for them,” and his Spotify profile now shows a mere 4 monthly listeners, indicating that any streaming benefits he may have received were erased.
- BigN left a scathing review after being fined by Spotify for artificial streams on three tracks, all of which were placed by Real Playlists. His Spotify profile now reflects only 6 monthly listeners, further proving that any alleged success was short-lived and detrimental.
- Allison Ralph initially left a positive review, stating that her Real Playlists campaign seemed promising. However, she later updated her review after Spotify warned her about bot activity, confirming that the “saves” and streams she received were not from real listeners.
- Alex Klb noted that Real Playlists appeared to be scrambling to adjust after Spotify introduced new fraud detection algorithms in November. He attempted to get a refund after his track never received a promised placement, but Real Playlists refused. He has since initiated a dispute with his bank.
- Steve Keith left a measured review, stating that while Jacob Boswell was friendly, the playlist placements were fraudulent. He observed huge spikes in streams at odd hours, followed by a complete drop-off — classic signs of bot activity. His royalties were subsequently withheld by Spotify and DistroKid.
These reviews paint a clear picture: Real Playlists is not just a scam — it’s actively harming the careers of the artists it claims to help.
Every time an artist purchases one of their campaigns, they risk:
- Getting their music flagged or removed by Spotify
- Losing their hard-earned organic listeners due to bot interference
- Being unable to collect royalties because streams are invalid
- Receiving no response or support after payment
Rather than elevating independent musicians, Real Playlists sabotages them while pocketing their money.
These real reviews, combined with the fake testimonials we previously exposed, confirm beyond a doubt that this company is one of the worst playlisting scams in operation today.
The False Advertising
From Real Playlist’s IG Profile: “Success Stories” That Never Were
Real Playlists’ Instagram is a carefully curated illusion, showcasing artists who seemingly found overnight success through their services. But when we traced these so-called “success stories” back to reality, the picture was far from what was advertised.
Take Cara Flynn, for example. In Real Playlists’ posts, she was celebrated as an artist whose song “Overthinking” saw a surge in listeners, hitting over 1,100 monthly listeners. But fast forward to today, and Cara’s Spotify numbers tell a different story. She now sits at 141 monthly listeners, and her overall streams have been stripped from several songs. This is the textbook aftermath of artificial streaming — temporary spikes, no real audience retention, and eventual penalties from Spotify.
Another case is Mike Soto, whose track “Champion” was promoted with excitement, showing placement in large playlists and rapid growth in streams. Yet today, Mike’s profile reflects only 575 monthly listeners, a stark contrast to the numbers being pushed on Real Playlists’ social media. His “success” was as artificial as the playlists he was placed on, with bot-driven streaming inflating his numbers before collapsing, leaving him with virtually no lasting fanbase.
The pattern continues with Aidan Mayes, another “success story” featured by Real Playlists. Screenshots from their promotional posts show her track climbing past 1,600 streams, with a supposed 2,418 monthly listeners. However, current data reveals a steep decline, with no meaningful audience growth to show for it. These inflated numbers, when stripped away, reveal the damaging effect of bot-driven playlists: artists are left worse off than before, their legitimacy tarnished, their real fans none the wiser.
Then there’s Loveable Wholes, whose song “Ghosts of You” allegedly racked up 30,000 streams thanks to a Real Playlists free trial. But a glance at their profile today reveals those streams were anything but real. Spotify has already deducted illegitimate plays, and their monthly listeners have dwindled back down, proving once again that the illusion of success sold by Real Playlists is nothing more than a temporary spike — one that ultimately does more harm than good.
These case studies make one thing clear: Real Playlists’ Instagram promotions are nothing but smoke and mirrors. The artists they parade as proof of success are, in reality, victims of artificial streams that Spotify later detects and removes. Instead of helping artists grow, Real Playlists leaves them worse off, with destroyed streaming credibility, no real audience, and an account flagged for manipulation.
Fake Proof: Real Playlists’ Fake Playlists
Real Playlists tries to appear legitimate by using screenshots from Artist.Tools, a popular service that verifies whether playlists contain bots. They showcase these screenshots to “prove” their playlists are organic and bot-free. Below is what Artist.Tools has to say about The Playlist Bros, who own Real Playlists.
There’s a Major Problem with Real Playlist’s Claims:
- The playlists shown in their screenshots have all been taken down – likely because they were flagged for artificial streaming.
- Some of these playlists never belonged to them in the first place – they simply stole screenshots from other legitimate curators.
- They use these fake screenshots to silence critics – When someone questions them, they present outdated or stolen data as “proof.”
This fraudulent use of Artist.Tools is not just misleading — it’s a direct attempt to deceive artists into trusting their scam.
To put the final nail in the coffin, Artist.Tools CEO and founder has officially gone on record stating that Real Playlists is a scam and a bot playlist company. This means that the very tool they claim to use for verification has exposed them as frauds.
If there was ever any doubt about their dishonesty, this confirms that Real Playlists is lying about their playlist quality and knowingly misleading artists to make money.
🚨 In all reality, those Artist Tools screenshots were faked anyway. If you look closely, you’ll notice that on the RealPlaylists.com screenshot from Artist.tools, it shows totally different genre tags and different meta data associated with the playlist, meaning they picked a random, non-bot playlist on Artist.tools, edited the screenshot to look more relevant to their target genres, and then claimed this was one of their playlists. It’s not.
Wondering how they could fake those Artist.tools screenshots?
🐰 Rabbit Hole
How Scammers Fake Their Screenshots
Want to learn more about how scammers can perfectly fake screenshots, making their companies and promo packages appear to be legitimate? Jump down this friendly rabbit hole to learn more! The link below will open in a new tab, so you won’t lose your place in this article.
🕳️ Dive In!
Fraud or Payola, It’s a Scam Either Way
One of the biggest lies in the playlisting scam world is the claim that someone can get you onto official Spotify editorial playlists. This is 100% false.
- Only Spotify’s internal team can add songs to editorial playlists like RapCaviar, Fresh Finds, or New Music Friday.
- The only way to pitch your music for these playlists is through Spotify for Artists — but it must be done via the website, not the app.
- Anyone claiming they have inside connections to Spotify’s curators is lying. Even major labels can’t guarantee editorial placements; they can only pitch the same way independent artists do.
🐰 Rabbit Hole
How Spotify Playlists Actually Work
Want to learn more about how you can actually pitch to a Spotify Editorial Playlist, like RapCaviar? Spoiler Alert: It can only be done by you, and it has to be done on the Spotify for Artists website. To learn more, jump down this friendly rabbit hole to learn more! The link below will open in a new tab, so you won’t lose your place in this article.
🕳️ Dive In!
More Lies: Algorithmic Boost
Scammers like Real Playlists often imply they have a direct line to Spotify’s editorial team when they’re really just running fake, botted campaigns. What’s worse is, they directly claim that their playlists can help your Spotify algorithm, when they can only hurt it.
Even legitimate playlists can sometimes hurt your algorithm, but bot playlists will absolutely annihilate it.
And even if you have enough real listeners to absorb the bot plays and avoid an automatic take-down notice via your distributor, bot plays still harm your algorithm. Sometimes irreparably. Click through the slide show below to learn more.
How Spotify’s Algorithm Works:
Play the slide show!
If they charge you for placement, that’s also considered payola, which is against Spotify’s terms of service. In reality, paying for playlist placement not only won’t get you on an editorial playlist but can also get your music removed from Spotify entirely.
Final Verdict: Real Playlists is a Scam
Multiple artists have lost money, received no playlist placements, and been given excuses instead of solutions. Whether they’re running bot playlists or just taking money without delivering, Real Playlists should be avoided at all costs. They claim to be real, but they’re simply lying. It doesn’t go a lot deeper than that.
Indie artists already face enough challenges in getting their music heard. The last thing they need is fraudulent services preying on their ambitions. Scams like Real Playlists do way more than waste money — they hurt your Spotify credibility, your algorithmic data, and can even lead to playlist bans or account suspensions.
If you’ve been scammed by Real Playlists or a similar service, report them immediately to platforms like Music Scam Alert and Spotify’s fraud department. The more artists speak up, the harder it becomes for these scams to thrive.
🐰 Stay safe, and remember – you’ve got this, and Music Scam Alert has your back.
Have You Been Added to a Bot Playlist? Learn What to Do.
Introducing a New Way to Help the Victims of Bot Playlists:
The Music Scam Alert “Victim’s Assistance” Playlists on Spotify!
Simply listen to these playlists to help these artists recover their algorithmic integrity and rebuild their audience. Please only listen to playlists in the genre you already enjoy and consume the most, because otherwise it could actually hurt their algorithm rather than help it.
🐰 Victim’s Assistance Playlists
See The Playlists
Reggaeton
Rap
Pop
Lofi / Instrumental
Country
Rock
EDM
Stay in the loop,
– Music Scam Alert Staff
don’t get duped.
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