Grayson Jenkins, Anna Wescoat Latest Victims of Bogus Streaming Fraud Claims

The issue of independent artists having their albums deleted from streaming services due to erroneous streaming fraud claims has gone from an isolated incident affecting a few unlucky performers, to a growing epidemic. And as more artists face this evolving problem, resources for resolving the issue still remain out of reach for many, while the results can be existential for creators trying to get their careers off the ground.

One of the latest victims is singer/songwriter Grayson Jenkins from Muhlenberg County, KY. His most recent album Country Parables released in late July is still up, luckily. But his 2017 album Cityscapes and Countrysides was removed after less than a 24 hours notice about bogus claims Jenkins was participating in fraudulent streaming.

“It seems to be a growing issue with independent artists getting flagged for this kind of thing, and then not having a lot of avenues to change it,” Grayson Jenkins tells Saving Country Music. “The week I got the takedown notice, I think my streaming numbers on Spotify were 30,000 monthly. And then within a week they were down under 20,000. You work your ass off all year doing these to grow your stature that people use as a metric for booking and other things.”

Jenkins got the notification of the alleged illegal streaming activity on August 20th. By the 21st, the album was gone. The punitive nature of how distributors and streaming services deal with these issues, and don’t give performers the opportunity to respond is one of the most disturbing things about this trend. Underground country artists Slackeye Slim took his music down in June preemptively after reading the horror stories, and receiving warnings. Similar to Slackeye Slim and others facing the issue, Grayson Jenkins used the service TuneCore to distribute the album.

“I get the notification, and I’ve got a rehearsal and a show. I paid TuneCore for their professional membership with 24 hour customer service, which is what they promote. But in terms of artificial streaming claims, they just reroute you to their guidelines, and there’s nobody I can even talk to. And Spotify tells you to talk to your distributor.”

Jenkins now works with Symphonic for distribution, so luckily his more recent music has not been affected by the takedown. But the experience has made Grayson rethink how he approaches his career, and what he puts value in.

“It was an older album that was very formative for me and my band. It came the same year I quit my job. It’s eight years old now. When you look at the positives of streaming, it’s supposed to be something that’s a slow drip, and evergreen exposure, and people can get attached to these songs over time. And when you remove that overnight, it makes you question, ‘Where am I putting my stock and my value?’ Especially when you have no chance to reverse it before it’s taken down.”

“My hope is that maybe we can get it reinstated. But it just sucks to lose all those streams, work put in, and the attachment I have to those songs, and the attachment that other people have developed that I don’t even know. Whether it’s one person, or ten people, or 100 people, that’s worth something.”

Direct connection is what’s been in the forefront of my brain for a while, and I think this is just another marker that maybe that’s the path, not going for scale, but going for a crafted approach of finding my people and sticking with those people instead of chasing virality and streaming numbers.”

Earlier in September, Saving Country Music reported how the North Carolina-based band The Piedmont Boys had their 2020 album Almost Home was removed on August 20th—the same day Grayson Jenkins received his notification. Also on that same day, the 2024 album World Famous from singer/songwriter Anna Wescoat also distributed by TuneCore was pulled.

“I’m at a loss for words honestly…Praying this can be rectified, because my brain cannot fathom why it even happened to begin with,” Anna Wescoat said. “So many years of hard work went into this album, not to mention close to two years of fundraising, over 10k very hard earned dollars, to pay for it… I didn’t even get a notification or explanation or anything as to why it’s been pulled. I’m gonna go cry now.”

Similar to others, the situation started when a specific song was flagged for fraudulent streaming activity. But then within 24 hours, the entire album was pulled, and not just on Spotify, but every streaming service. Just like Grayson Jenkins, Wescoat has a professional artists account with TuneCore. However when it comes to this issue, artists are told there will be no resolution, their albums will not be reinstated, and they won’t be allowed to speak to a human about it.

“Honestly, it’s insulting because I don’t even have the budget to use these promotional sites they’re talking about,” Wescoat tells Saving Country Music. “I had to pay them an additional $15 to have it pulled down. It’s like a big slap in the face saying they don’t care about us because I know that bigger artists and labels have the support to where they don’t have to deal with this. We’re out here trying our best to create real music, and it feels like you’re getting stopped at every turn. It’s just another way to screw us over.”

The truth is that streaming fraud is a real issue. But while it’s often major artists on major labels perpetrating this fraud, independent artists are the ones paying the price. Recently, Kevin Clancy of Barstool Sports talked to hip-hop DJ and personality Bootleg Kev about the practice.

“Every single artist that has ever put an album out through a major record label, EVERY, it doesn’t have to be a rapper, it could be a rock band, ALL of them, EVERY artist, there is an amount of botted shit,” Bootleg Kev claims. “What happens is, these f–king labels have budgets that they work into their marketing budget. When you’re an artist that’s that big, and your music comes out, you could really do any kind of numbers and it’s never gonna get questioned.”

The Cam Pierce album A Thousand Lonely Horses was also pulled earlier in August, and once again after erroneous claims of streaming fraud. The album made it on to Saving Country Music’s Best Albums So Far for 2025. Unlike many others, Cam Pierce had used CD Baby for his distribution, so even though TuneCore is the primary culprit, it’s happening through other distribution services as well.

Additionally, Saving Country Music is currently looking into the disappearance of Juliet McConkey’s 2020 album Disappearing Girl, and the catalog of traditional country artist George Dearborne.

But there is some good news. After Saving Country Music posted its report on this issues with The Piedomont Boys and Cam Pierce—and fans of these artists shared the article and created enough of a public stir—both Cam’s A Thousand Lonely Horses and The Piedmont Boys’ Almost Home were reinstated on streaming services.

Also, musician Benton Blount, who also happens to be the County Council Chairman for Greenville County where the Piedmont Boys are from, wrote a strongly worded letter to pressure TuneCore to reverse the decision, and actually received a personal response from a TuneCore attorney, which flies in the face of the company’s proclamations that albums cannot be reinstated.

The issue for The Piedmont Boys and Cam Pierce is thankfully resolved, but it remains ongoing for Anna Wescoat, Grayson Jenkins, and likely more independent performers trying to make their way through the world with their music.

“Obviously it’s a Spotify thing and a distributor thing. But greater than that, it’s just the total convenience factor of how much do you own? What controls you?” Grayson Jenkins says. “What ownership do you have over your own trajectory? Those are all things I’m trying to think about, and how to keep growing and not give up so much to do that.”

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