One of the latest victims is singer\/songwriter Grayson Jenkins from Muhlenberg County, KY. His most recent album Country Parables<\/em> released in late July is still up, luckily. But his 2017 album Cityscapes and Countrysides<\/em> was removed after less than a 24 hours notice about bogus claims Jenkins was participating in fraudulent streaming. <\/p> \u201cIt 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,\u201d<\/em> Grayson Jenkins tells Saving Country Music. \u201cThe 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.\u201d <\/em><\/p> 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\u2019t 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<\/a><\/strong> 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. <\/p> \u201cI get the notification, and I\u2019ve 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\u2019s nobody I can even talk to. And Spotify tells you to talk to your distributor.\u201d<\/em> 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. <\/p> \u201cIt was an older album that was very formative for me and my band. It came the same year I quit my job. It\u2019s eight years old now. When you look at the positives of streaming, it\u2019s supposed to be something that\u2019s 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, \u2018Where am I putting my stock and my value?\u2019 Especially when you have no chance to reverse it before it\u2019s taken down.\u201d Direct connection is what\u2019s been in the forefront of my brain for a while, and I think this is just another marker that maybe that\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p> Earlier in September, Saving Country Music reported<\/a><\/strong> how the North Carolina-based band The Piedmont Boys had their 2020 album Almost Home<\/em> was removed on August 20th\u2014the same day Grayson Jenkins received his notification. Also on that same day, the 2024 album World Famous<\/em> from singer\/songwriter Anna Wescoat also distributed by TuneCore was pulled. 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\u2019t be allowed to speak to a human about it. <\/p>\n\n\n The truth is that streaming fraud is a real issue. But while it\u2019s 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. <\/p> \u201cEvery single artist that has ever put an album out through a major record label, EVERY, it doesn\u2019t have to be a rapper, it could be a rock band, ALL of them, EVERY artist, there is an amount of botted shit,<\/em>\u201d Bootleg Kev claims<\/a>. \u201cWhat happens is, these f\u2013king labels have budgets that they work into their marketing budget. When you\u2019re an artist that\u2019s that big, and your music comes out, you could really do any kind of numbers and it\u2019s never gonna get questioned.\u201d Additionally, Saving Country Music is currently looking into the disappearance of Juliet McConkey\u2019s 2020 album Disappearing Girl<\/em>, and the catalog of traditional country artist George Dearborne. <\/p> But there is some good news. After Saving Country Music posted its report on this issues with The Piedomont Boys and Cam Pierce\u2014and fans of these artists shared the article and created enough of a public stir\u2014both Cam\u2019s A Thousand Lonely Horses<\/em> and The Piedmont Boys\u2019 Almost Home<\/em> were reinstated on streaming services<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p> 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<\/a> 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\u2019s proclamations that albums cannot be reinstated. <\/p> 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. \u201cObviously it\u2019s a Spotify thing and a distributor thing. But greater than that, it\u2019s just the total convenience factor of how much do you own? What controls you?\u201d Grayson Jenkins says. \u201cWhat ownership do you have over your own trajectory? Those are all things I\u2019m trying to think about, and how to keep growing and not give up so much to do that.\u201d<\/em><\/p> \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you found this article valuable, consider leaving<\/em>\u00a0Saving Country Music A TIP<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savingcountrymusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/grayson-jenkins-cityscapes-and-countrysides.jpg\")
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