Many Spotify users, including Premium subscribers, are voicing frustration over the streaming platform’s sponsored music recommendations. These pop-up suggestions, which appear on Spotify’s homepage, have sparked online debate, particularly among those who pay for an ad-free experience.
A recent Reddit thread discussing the issue gained hundreds of comments, with users sharing complaints about how these sponsored picks appear and affect their music discovery.
Why Users Are Upset
Spotify describes these recommendations as part of its music promotion strategy. However, some users feel the feature is intrusive, especially since it was not clearly mentioned during Premium sign-up.
Here are the three main reasons why users are annoyed:
Irrelevant Music Suggestions
Many users report receiving recommendations for artists they don’t listen to, such as Drake or Taylor Swift, despite never streaming their music. Critics say this promotes already popular artists while pushing aside smaller or independent musicians.
Not What Premium Users Expected
When signing up for Spotify Premium, users expect an ad-free experience. While Spotify maintains that sponsored recommendations are not “ads” in the traditional sense, some users disagree. They argue that all parts of the app, including playlists and homepages, should remain free of paid promotions for Premium members.
New Music Gets Pushed Aside
Users also complain that sponsored recommendations sometimes replace new releases from artists they follow or have pre-saved. This makes it harder for fans to discover new music from their favorite artists, giving more space to sponsored content and viral songs, sometimes linked to social media trends like TikTok.
How to Turn Off Sponsored Recommendations
For those who want to avoid sponsored suggestions, there is a workaround—though it’s only available on Spotify’s desktop site. Users can go to their Account Settings, navigate to Account Privacy, and turn off the Tailored Ads option. This helps reduce, but may not entirely eliminate, these pop-ups.
Spotify’s Response
So far, Spotify has not made an official statement addressing these concerns. Users are now waiting to see if the company will adjust its policy, especially for paying subscribers.
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