diff --git a/backend/Musify.StreamingGateway/Middleware/TicketValidationMiddleware.cs b/backend/Musify.StreamingGateway/Middleware/TicketValidationMiddleware.cs
index e77680f..39df49a 100644
--- a/backend/Musify.StreamingGateway/Middleware/TicketValidationMiddleware.cs
+++ b/backend/Musify.StreamingGateway/Middleware/TicketValidationMiddleware.cs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public sealed class TicketValidationMiddleware(
 
         var prefix = await ticketValidator.ValidateTicketAsync(token);
 
-        if (prefix is null)
+        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(prefix))
         {
             logger.LogWarning("Rejected media request {Path}: missing or invalid ticket", path);
             context.Response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status401Unauthorized;
diff --git a/backend/Musify.Worker/Program.cs b/backend/Musify.Worker/Program.cs
index 1b96107..45e76c9 100644
--- a/backend/Musify.Worker/Program.cs
+++ b/backend/Musify.Worker/Program.cs
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ using Musify.Application.Configuration;
 using Musify.Infrastructure.MassTransit;
 using Musify.Infrastructure.Persistence;
 using Musify.Infrastructure.Services;
-using Musify.Worker;
 
 var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder();
 
@@ -20,8 +19,6 @@ services.AddDatabase(configuration);
 services.AddMassTransitConsumers(configuration);
 services.AddUploadIntentJobs(configuration);
 
-services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
-
 var host = builder.Build();
 
 host.Run();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/Musify.Worker/Worker.cs b/backend/Musify.Worker/Worker.cs
deleted file mode 100644
index acac6dc..0000000
--- a/backend/Musify.Worker/Worker.cs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-namespace Musify.Worker
-{
-    public class Worker : BackgroundService
-    {
-        protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
-        {
-        }
-    }
-}