This is the reason people are boycotting Spotify: Hint, it’s more than just music

For years, Spotify appeared to have a strangle-hold on the music industry. But a recent backlash against some of the platform’s controversial policies may be turning the tide on the streaming giant.

Last month musicians gathered in Oakland, California for a series of talks called ‘Death to Spotify.’ At the event, attendees were tasked with considering “what it means to decentralize music discovery, production and listening from capitalist economies”.

Further afield, there have been calls for mass boycotts in protest against the platform’s payment policies for artists. Spotify claims to have paid out more than $10 billion to the music industry in 2024 but a report from Duetti found that Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube all paid higher rates to artists than Spotify.

Spotify has repeatedly been accused of taking advantage of emerging artists, who desperately need the platform for discovery purposes but receive payout in return. In the past Taylor Swift had a high-profile boycott against Spotify but returned to the platform in 2017. Likewise, Thom Yorke of Radiohead removed his solo projects from Spotify, before putting them back.

Aside from the financial angle, other artists have questioned the company’s commercial ties. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell left Spotify in 2022 and cited the $250 million podcasting deal handed to noted anti-vaccine voice Joe Rogan. More recently, the news that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek had invested $693.6 million in defense company Helsing prompted fresh calls for a boycott.

Given that most Spotify hold-outs of the past have eventually returned to the fold, it is natural to ask whether a boycott can ever really be fully effective. But Eric Drott, a professor of music at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Guardian that there is reason to believe that a new wave of artists may be more willing to shun the streaming giant: “These acts are less famous. For years, artists knew streaming wouldn’t make them rich but needed the visibility. Now there’s so much music out there, people are questioning whether it’s doing much for them.”

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