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The end of November used to mean something.

It wasn't just that the festive season was mere weeks away, or that Black Friday shopping madness was imminent, but that something fun and exciting was about to drop at any moment: Spotify Wrapped.

But this year, the internet is uncharacteristically quiet during the period when Spotify Wrapped typically appears. The lack of anticipation comes during a challenging time for the streaming platform, as it faces backlash on such issues as artist compensation, AI-generated music and ICE recruitment ads.

First, there's artist compensation. Spotify has long been criticized for its dismal payouts to artists. Earlier this year, some Grammy-nominated songwriters even boycotted a Spotify awards event in response to the company’s decision to reduce royalty rates for songwriters and publishers by merging its premium music service with audiobooks last year.

Then there was the outcry around Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek’s investment in Helsing, a German defence company. When the news broke that the CEO had been funding the AI military tech company through his investment firm Prima Materia, indie artists like Massive Attack, Deerhoof and Godspeed You! Black Emperor pulled their music from the platform in protest during the summer.

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[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Also, they were pushing ads for ICE recruitment.

[-] KelvarCherry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

Keep track of every company that airs ICE/Military ads in 2025. Amazon does it through Twitch. I wouldn't be surprised if Meta has some. They all need to collapse.

[-] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

ICE ads have been running on Amazon properties (Twitch, Amazon Prime Video), Google properties (YouTube), Meta properties (Facebook, Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter, Spotify, etc. Basically any big tech platform with an ads business.

[-] gustofwind@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

It’s basically unethical to use Spotify and we’re seriously doomed if shit like Spotify wrapped is more important to people than the consequences of reality

[-] noredcandy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

For me, it's really two things. The first, the app is a bloated mess. Between videos, podcasts, and just tons of promotions, it's become a chore to just open up the app and start playing music. Secondly, it's just been getting expensive honestly. Annual price increases are crazy to me when the service is getting worse. Their lossless roleout was also a let down between delays and lower quality than competing services.

[-] SillySausage@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

Have they released the hi-fi tier they promised years ago?

Between Tidal's high quality streaming and my Jellyfin server with FLAC of my CDs, I'm happy.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 2 points 2 weeks ago

I've been buying music (mostly from Bandcamp) for years. Now I have a hefty library and the people making music got paid

[-] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

Whatever money I would spend on music streaming, I spend on Bandcamp Friday.

There's one this week people!

[-] HailSeitan@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Who exactly are they supposed to be losing to?

[-] PetteriPano@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago
[-] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

I switched to Tidal myself, but I am not a big music consumer so my opinion isn't worth a ton.

[-] gravitywell@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

My funkwhale server is thriving.

[-] uncouple9831@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

I will enjoy the folks coming out of the woodwork to say "~~I only liked Elon before he went crazy~~" "I only liked Spotify before they started exploiting artists".

You literally have to clockwork orange some people to get them to see what is happening around them.

[-] UnspecificGravity@infosec.pub 1 points 2 weeks ago

I dropped them back when they started throwing money at Joe Rogan. That told me everything I needed to know about them.

[-] Greddan@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago

Probably not. Most of my friends and acquaintances think music is Spotify. They cannot comprehend the existence of competing streaming platforms and become aggressive when the subject is brought up. It's a bit like how every screen is an iPad to certain people.

[-] sturmblast@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I hope so. I'm on the boycott train.

[-] rozodru@pie.andmc.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

After trying out the alternatives to spotify I simply didn't like any of them. Either other services didn't have artists I liked or their players were horrible.

Instead I simply set up navidrome on my server, used a soulseek script to convert my youtube and spotify playlists to download all my music to my server, and then opened up said server to myself and my friends/family. So now they can all stream for free AND if they want they can easily add music to the server. Which is fantastic because now I'm discovering new bands and artists without any effort. Just shuffle all my tracks and "oh that's new" because my buddy added it and it's really good. Plus the various apps for both PC and mobile are way better than what I was using before.

this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
16 points (100.0% liked)

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