Diddy’s music sees whopping increase in streams amid sex trafficking arrest and viral ‘freak-off’ claims

Diddy’s music has been streamed more since the rapper was arrested last week on suspicion of human trafficking and extortion.

Luminate, an industry data and analytics firm, reported an 18.3% increase in on-demand streams of Diddy’s music in the week he was arrested compared to the week before, the Associated Press reported.

It’s not uncommon for the number of streaming services to increase in the wake of controversies.

After a documentary about R. Kelly accused the R&B singer of sexual misconduct with women and underage girls, his numbers nearly doubled.

Combs is charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering. The indictment, which dates back to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women over a period of years “to satisfy his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”

He has denied guilt to the charges.

Diddy, whose net worth was estimated by the government at $400 million, Forbes in June, music will be available on various streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL and YouTube Music.

On Spotify, an artist can earn as little as $0.0033 per stream, Business Insider reported in 2020. According to his Spotify profile, he currently receives 9,758,290 monthly listeners.

The increase in streams is an interesting development, as demand for Diddy’s music plummeted after CNN released a video in 2016 of Diddy hitting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

The Hollywood Reporter compared the period immediately after Cassie filed her shocking lawsuit against him in November 2023 to the video’s release in May 2024.

According to the outlet, streams of music under the artist name Diddy dropped 51.8 percent compared to the first week of December, two weeks after the lawsuit was filed, which was quickly settled.

THR, citing Luminate, reported that streams for “Diddy” — Sean Combs’ latest stage name — dropped from 2,624,000 to 1,265,000.

Diddy, whose net worth was estimated at $400 million by Forbes in June, has music available on several streaming platforms, including Spotify, Amazon Music, TIDAL and YouTube Music

In November, Ventura filed a lawsuit alleging that he had beaten and raped her for years.

She accused Combs of forcing her and others into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings. The lawsuit was settled in one day.

On Monday, Diddy was arrested and denied bail by a judge after using his own and his mother’s $50 million Miami home as collateral.

On Wednesday he lost an appeal against the decision and will remain in custody until his trial begins.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being charged with human trafficking, extortion and transporting persons for the purpose of prostitution.

Diddy pictured in 2016

The indictment against Diddy, made public this week, alleged that federal authorities raided his Miami and Los Angeles mansions and found more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.

It is alleged that the rapper coerced and manipulated victims into participating in days-long sexual performances, which he called “freak-offs.”

Diddy’s associates allegedly gave victims drugs to make them comply and threatened anyone who refused to comply, allegations similar to those made in a civil lawsuit filed last year by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie.

These allegations were instrumental in prosecutors charging the producer with sex trafficking. Observers noted that authorities are increasingly expanding the law to make their cases against powerful suspects.

In 2000, Congress passed a tougher federal sex trafficking charge as a deliberate move to crack down on prostitution rings and pimps. The nature of the charge has changed, but more recently it has been used to ensnare the likes of Keith Raniere.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being charged with sex trafficking, extortion and transporting persons to engage in prostitution.

Notably, Diddy has hired the same attorney, Marc Agnifilo, who previously fought the government’s escalating use of federal sex trafficking charges in the 2019 trial against Raniere, which resulted in a 120-year prison sentence.

Raniere was the leader of the NXIVM cult, a pyramid scheme that served as a front for his various crimes, including sexual abuse, sex trafficking, child pornography, and forced labor.

During his trial, the cult leader’s legal team attempted to argue that the federal sex trafficking charges were too far-reaching to support his case. It was the same argument Mr. Agifilo used during Diddy’s bail hearing this week.

He claimed the alleged “freak-offs” were simply about the way Diddy was “intimate” with people, and accused prosecutors of going too far and “entering this man’s bedroom.”

“Is it sex trafficking? No, not if that’s what everybody wants,” Agnifilo said during the hearing.

Following Diddy’s arrest, he was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and is also under surveillance for attempted suicide.

Sources told DailyMail.com the detention centre is ‘standard for high profile individuals’.