Garth Brooks’ “No Fences” Appears on Spotify in Streaming Scam
Fans of Garth Brooks were rejoicing Thursday evening (1-2) as it appeared that Garth was finally giving in and starting to upload his catalog to Spotify. Tracks from his second album No Fences from 1990 appeared on the streaming service after Garth previously swore it off for an exclusive deal with Amazon Music in 2016.
But it’s pretty clear that Garth didn’t have a change of heart, or was enacting a New Year’s resolution to finally evolve with the rest of the music world. Instead it appears he’s the victim of streaming fraud, which has become more and more pervasive on Spotify and other streaming services over the years.
Not only is the Spotify version of No Fences missing three tracks (“Unanswered Prayers,” “Same Old Story”, and “Wolves”), if you listen to “New Way To Fly,” it’s actually a live track. Most of the tracks sound like they’re at a lower bit rate than normal, or something has been augmented with their sound, likely to circumvent Spotify’s fraud detection. All songs were also marked as “explicit.”
Furthermore, the copyright is not Capitol Nashville, but “Garth Brooks,” and all the songs are credited to “Garth Brooks, Stephanie Davis” as opposed to the actual songwriters.
It’s likely the album will be taken down shortly as soon as Spotify finds out about the malfeasance. But it does illustrate just how easy it is for virtually anyone to upload someone else’s tracks to streaming services, and start earning money from spins.
In 2020, Saving Country Music exposed a sweeping song theft scheme that included over 112 artists, and some 831 total songs where the thieves took tracks from other performers, and distributed under fake artist names. In April of 2024, Saving Country Music also reported on country artist Grant Langston having his unreleased album released on Spotify, ostensibly resulting in him losing control of his own music even before it was released.
The brazenness of thieves redistributing Garth Brooks material proves it can happen to anybody, and how lax the protocols continue to be for uploading songs. Garth is notorious for keeping his music off of anything except for Amazon, including YouTube. A Live in Germany album is on the platform, and was added in 2024, probably in a separate deal.
Unfortunately for Garth Brooks fans without Amazon music accounts, it means they’ll have to wait a little longer to stream Garth’s music.
January 2, 2025 @ 8:32 pm
The Live In Germany album is also on YouTube and has been (legitimately) for a few years now. I think Garth probably let that go up as a favor because it was never physically released in the US, it was only in Europe
January 2, 2025 @ 8:38 pm
Garth should grab whoever did this by the ankles and put them upside down.
January 2, 2025 @ 11:58 pm
Don’t give him any ideas.
Oh, wait….sounds like he might have given you the idea.
January 3, 2025 @ 6:15 am
He’s not in shape for such anymore.
His wife, on the other hand, she’s scary…
January 2, 2025 @ 9:13 pm
Releasing his catalog on Spotify would require him to not be a tool. Alas, he’s still a tool.
January 3, 2025 @ 8:27 am
He is a tool if not wanting to give away his music for pennies?
January 2, 2025 @ 9:13 pm
Another body is about to go missing. I’m just enjoying it on Spotify while I can
January 2, 2025 @ 9:16 pm
There is speculation that Brooks Jefferson on Spotify is actually Garth Brooks singing on some unmastered recordings. As much of a stickler Garth is for not allowing his music to be played outside of certain channels that he controls, it would be odd that he would allow this Brooks Jefferson guy to get all the Garth song streams on Spotify.
January 2, 2025 @ 11:22 pm
Just imagining how furious this would have made him as he quickly grabbed a calculator to work out how many cents this scam cost him is enough for me to congratulate the culprit.
January 3, 2025 @ 1:13 am
Leaving out “Unanswered Prayers” was odd– it was a big hit. Artists make so little from Spotify I wonder if scamming Spotify is worth it
January 3, 2025 @ 5:23 am
Bodies; where are they? Does Daniel Ek know?
January 3, 2025 @ 7:43 am
Not to be obtuse, but why wouldn’t Garth release his music to streaming? I get that it’s not a huge a huge revenue source, but why would he at least not keep his name out there? The only time my kids or I hear him is when I play my CDs in the car, and that’s because I’m old and set in my ways and that’s mainly how I listen to music.
January 3, 2025 @ 7:58 am
It isn’t that Garth won’t release his music to streaming. He has. He is on Amazon Music last I checked. His strategy – much like many other major (& older) artists like Metallica, The Beatles, etc. – was to withhold his catalogue until one of the streaming companies cut a deal directly with him to give him a better stream rate than Dierks Bentley (just an example) gets and/or a large up-front lump sum.
For the streaming service, it is a play to lock users in and attract a large fanbase to their service since almost all the music streaming services offer 99% of the same content and features. For the artist(s), well they get paid.
January 3, 2025 @ 10:33 am
hey leave Dierks alone, I like his music haha.
January 3, 2025 @ 9:27 am
Garth’s exclusive deal with Amazon has been catastrophic for his career, his legacy, and his bottom line. Millions of potential fans cannot interface with his music because they can’t access it. Spotify and Apple Music are far and away the largest streaming services, and also the ones that feature discovery playlists and radio shows.
Did you know that Garth Brooks officially released an album this year? It was called “Time Traveler,” and it first appeared in a box set sold exclusively at Bass Pro Shops in 2023. It hasn’t appeared on any charts. Barely anybody even knows it exists. There were no reviews. It didn’t appear on any end-of-year lists.
Yes, creators only make fractions of pennies every time a song is streamed. But it’s an economy of scale like music always has been. Music is making more money overall now than it ever has, and its because of streaming. Artists are now getting paid more than ever. The problem is there are so many artists, small performers get buried, and can’t scale. But the idea that if everything was still built off of physical sales they would make more money is incorrect. They would still have to scale. Dave Macias at 30 Tigers has talked about this often.
Besides, this is Garth Brooks. His songs would be getting streamed millions of times, and he and his songwriters would be making significantly more money if he was available on all platforms. The whole reason this scam was able to work is because Garth hasn’t claimed his own spot on Spotify.
January 3, 2025 @ 9:45 am
It is hard for me to tell if the Amazon thing has been bad for his bottom line or not. I assume that – much like the Bass Pro Shops album – Garth got a huge up-front payment for the respective exclusivity. While it no doubt impacts his reach and legacy of his music in terms of new listeners discovering his albums, I doubt that has much positive or negative impact on his concert ticket sales. People attending a Garth Brooks show in 2025 are going for “Unanswered Prayers” and not whatever stuff was on the Bass Pro Shops album nobody heard.
I do agree that it hurts the songwriters though, which is awful. I suspect the *real* losers are Amazon and Bass Pro. No way those exclusivity deals are paying for themselves and despite Amazon pushing their music streaming service heavily to Prime customers and having Garth as an exclusive they remain an after-thought to Spotify and Apple in that space.
I agree with your general premise that this is/will have a long-term impact on Garth’s legacy and that the exclusivity deals he signed are dumb, but I’m less convinced they have actually impacted his bottom line or not.
January 3, 2025 @ 9:52 am
I agree it’s not hurting Garth’s ticket sales at the moment. But over time as his fan base ages, it probably will. What’s the hottest thing in country music right now? ’90s country. Kids are streaming Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and then listening to Zach Top. They can’t hear Garth.
Right before Christmas, that 7-disc Bass Pro box set was on sale for $5.95. I guess they just upped the price again, but I was going to write a story about it how the government was going to purchase copies to make affordable housing out of.
The effect on Garth’s bottom line maybe is minimal. But I can’t imagine his music being more available on streaming wouldn’t result in more revenue. He’s definitely not selling physical product. Nobody even knows it exists.
January 3, 2025 @ 5:56 pm
Trig, it’s high time you graced us with one of your funny stories.
January 4, 2025 @ 11:39 am
I do wonder if Garth would be having the same renaissance that the 90’s artists you listed are having?
Garth feels like a punchline for a lot of the younger generation. Admittedly I have no clue what an 18 year old likes in 2025, but I sort of feel like B&D, Alan Jackson, etc. benefit from generally being respected artists for their time. Garth? I’m not so sure about. Garth sort of feels like a 90’s TV show that was massive for its time, but the acting and writing simply don’t hold up.
Perhaps I am letting my own feelings about Garth as an artist seep in, but I do wonder if the 18-24 age range gobbling up 90’s Country on Spotify wouldn’t turn up their nose to his stuff the same way they would about 90210 or whatever.
January 3, 2025 @ 9:52 am
I’ve never thought about the fact until now about the songwriters. Garths really hampering all their incomes by sticking strictly to Amazon. When you think about it like that, it’s kind of a jerk and self centered move.
January 3, 2025 @ 10:43 am
Time Traveler is a great album too! As a Garth fan, I wish Garth would make it easier to listen to his music, but I’ve just learned to adapt. Even if that means uploading my cds to my computer and adding them to my phone.
Amazon music isn’t a bad service, but it’s the principle of the matter. If new cars still had cd players, it would be one thing..but most don’t. I’ll be glad to write a review of Time Traveler though 😉
Time Travler and the album before that , Fun, both awesome GB albums!!!
January 3, 2025 @ 1:03 pm
I agree that Garth’s stance on streaming has harmed his legacy.
I don’t agree with the idea stated above that he (or any performer) are tools for not using Spotify. It is their music to distribute as seen fit.
January 3, 2025 @ 11:09 am
Thanks for everyone’s input. My thinking was along the same as Trig’s, that withholding his music is more detrimental to his legacy than his wallet. It seems like such an uncharacteristically bad business move on his part, like he’s letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
January 3, 2025 @ 8:41 am
No comment from Garth Brooks’s camp?
January 3, 2025 @ 9:14 am
The album has already been taken down. It’s unlikely they will address it. Most of the music industry is still on vacation until next Monday.
January 10, 2025 @ 5:27 pm
yeah they say he got toxic shock, bad tampon, can’t come to the phone right now
January 3, 2025 @ 1:45 pm
Garth is such a cuck. Dude is totally detached from reality and does not give a shit about anyone but himself. I’ve grown to hate him over the years. Those stupid ass videos he puts out trying to hard to be what he thinks is normal. Wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of skeletons in that closet.
January 3, 2025 @ 2:42 pm
I like Garth’s music ok. To me he’s somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as 90s country artists go. He has a few great songs and I do still enjoy listening to them occasionally. I bought his Ultimate Hits 2 disc set on Amazon when it was right under $9 and got a free download with it, so once in a while I will listen to it on my Amazon music app. That’s all the Garth I need.
January 3, 2025 @ 4:46 pm
i heard Darth’s wallet has gotten so big that Lou Adler now uses it as a Mama Cass impersonator in his Los Angeles nightclub.
January 4, 2025 @ 11:22 am
Quite possibly it was Chris Gaines actually singing Garth’s songs to get around copyright laws.
January 8, 2025 @ 11:31 am
A Traveling Salesman stops at a farmer’s house explaining that his car has a flat and asks whether he can stay for the night. The farmer tells him, “Yes, but you’ll have to listen to my daughter playing Chris Gaines’ greatest hits.” Whereupon the Salesman replies, “Excuse me farmer, but I think I’m in the wrong joke.”
Or as Roadhog once told me,
“if it ain’t broke, don’t ask Darth Brooks to fix it”
January 10, 2025 @ 5:36 pm
actually it was Harold Reid impersonating Chris Gaines doing Darth Brooks
and it wasn’t funny either. i went to a safe place and cried
January 5, 2025 @ 9:07 pm
Interestingly, Chris Gaines (BTM), (SNL), (NBC Special) is easy to access