Rolling Stone Inside the ‘Black Market’ Where Artists Can Pay for Millions of Streams Digital marketer Joshua Mack brags on call with high-powered management company about the ability to “manipulate” streaming systems to “hit astronomical numbers” By Illustration by Joan Wong for Rolling Stone. Photograph used in illustration by GSPictures/Getty Images The music industry is famous for being hyper-competitive, but in the summer of 2019, the biggest companies — from major labels to streaming services — briefly united around a common cause: signing a code of conduct condemning streaming manipulation, a practice that inflates artists’ numbers on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music and potentially reduces payouts for smaller acts.