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I'm using the /tracks API endpoint to retrieve song stats like playback count and favorite count. I've noticed that the playback count in the API is not the same as the one on the website.

Here's an example Bug example

I found a workaround here https://stackoverflow.com/a/36985629/287491 but it seems that using it might be against the Soundcloud ToS although I didn't find the specific article in the ToS. On top of that I'd rather not use an undocumented API as it may change or be removed without notice.

What would be the proper way to retrieve the real playback count for a track?

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Virgiliu
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  • Hmm which playback count is correct? Perhaps v2 counts included bots that were used to artificially inflate some tracks, and they fixed that in current version? Soundcloud must have a reason for the difference, so I would try to get an official response from their team. – johnh10 Aug 06 '16 at 15:09
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    As far as I could tell the correct count was the one in the screenshot, it was the only one changing value over time. I found 2 bug reports from 2 months ago on their Github repos but no official answer so far. – Virgiliu Aug 07 '16 at 18:46
  • Would You mind accepting the solution beneath if it answers Your question? – Hash Jul 03 '17 at 11:05
  • Well that's not a solution to my problem, is it? – Virgiliu Jul 04 '17 at 07:54
  • Well as it was/is a bug we cannot really do any further thing than contacting them. The solution is to fix it on the side of SoundCloud. :) – Hash Jul 12 '17 at 05:21

1 Answers1

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As You wrote the workaround is valid but it surely violates the ToS of SoundCloud!

By the side of SoundCloud there was an attempt to clean up:

http://status.soundcloud.com/post/145855742725/stats-maintenance#note-container

Your is after their update (August 3rd, 2016 ), so it is a bug. My recommendation is to ask help on the forum, (stat special part), they seem to reply in this topic little to no time.

Update: the API worked as intended on 2017.10.09.

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