Spotify: Difference between revisions

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The Spotify website for Car Thing now reads "Contact customer service by no later than January 14, 2025 to discuss your refund options." <ref>https://carthing.spotify.com/</ref> The Spotify support web page for Car Thing states that they are discontinuing the hardware product as part of ongoing efforts to streamline their product offerings.<ref name=":0" />

===Voice & environment surveillance patent===

<blockquote>The audio signals may be recorded in real-time, or may correspond to previously-recorded audio signals...

For example, such metadata might include an emotional state...... in one example aspect, the content metadata indicates an emotional state of a speaker providing the voice.</blockquote>Back in 2021, Spotify was granted US patent 10891948 B2 for ''"identification of Taste Attributes from an audio signal"[[:File:US10891948.pdf]] .'' This describes tech that:

#analyzes what users say

#Analyzes background noise to determine where you are(bus stop, coffee shop, home, etc)

#Scores incoming data to guess a user's mood or emotional state.

The patent describes listening to birds chirping, printers printing, cars on a street. This technology enables Spotify to create detailed profiles of their users' activities, how they feel, and social interactions without users understanding that their data is being collected in this way.

This is marketed as a music recommendation system. The patent demonstrates that Spotify's capabilities go far further than music taste evaluation, with the ability for personal surveillance.

According to a statement Spotify gave at news media they are not currently using this in their service, however they have not committed to never using this technology on their service.<ref>{{cite web |last=Heater |first=Alex |title=Spotify is patenting a surveillance system disguised as a music recommendation engine |url=https://www.soundguys.com/spotify-surveillence-patent-51768/ |website=SoundGuys |date=2021-04-14 |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref>

===Fake artists and playlist manipulation===

In recent years, Spotify has experimented with the addition of lower, and with ways to lower the average royalty cost paid out per user, by manipulating playlists to serve users content with smaller royalties attached.

*Perfect Fit Content (PFC) Program:

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===Privacy violations and data misuse===

In 2015, Spotify demanded access to users’ contacts, photos, and location via mobile apps, triggering backlash over disproportionate data harvesting.{{CitationNeeded}}

*Invasive data collection:

~~::In 2015, Spotify demanded access to users’ contacts, photos, and location via mobile apps, triggering backlash over disproportionate data harvesting.{{CitationNeeded}}~~

*Pay-for-Play allegations:

~~::Spotify was accused of taking payments from labels to prioritize songs in playlists, mimicking payola scandals without transparency.<ref name=":1" />~~

~~===Voice & environment surveillance patent===~~

~~<blockquote>The audio signals may be recorded in real-time, or may correspond to previously-recorded audio signals...~~

For example, such metadata might include an emotional state...... in one example aspect, the content metadata indicates an emotional state of a speaker providing the voice.</blockquote>Back in 2021, Spotify was granted US patent 10891948 B2 for ''"identification of Taste Attributes from an audio signal"[[:File:US10891948.pdf]] .'' This describes tech that:

~~#analyzes what users say~~

~~#Analyzes background noise to determine where you are(bus stop, coffee shop, home, etc)~~

~~#Scores incoming data to guess a user's mood or emotional state.~~

The patent describes listening to birds chirping, printers printing, cars on a street. This technology enables Spotify to create detailed profiles of their users' activities, how they feel, and social interactions without users understanding that their data is being collected in this way.

~~This is marketed as a music recommendation system. The patent demonstrates that Spotify's capabilities go far further than music taste evaluation, with the ability for personal surveillance.~~

According to a statement Spotify gave at news media they are not currently using this in their service, however they have not committed to never using this technology on their service.<ref>{{cite web |last=Heater |first=Alex |title=Spotify is patenting a surveillance system disguised as a music recommendation engine |url=https://www.soundguys.com/spotify-surveillence-patent-51768/ |website=SoundGuys |date=2021-04-14 |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref>

~~{{Clear}}~~

==References==

[[Category:Spotify]]

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 The Spotify website for Car Thing now reads "Contact customer service by no later than January 14, 2025 to discuss your refund options." <ref>https://carthing.spotify.com/</ref> The Spotify support web page for Car Thing states that they are discontinuing the hardware product as part of ongoing efforts to streamline their product offerings.<ref name=":0" />
+{{Clear}}
+===Voice & environment surveillance patent===
+<blockquote>The audio signals may be recorded in real-time, or may correspond to previously-recorded audio signals...
+For example, such metadata might include an emotional state...... in one example aspect, the content metadata indicates an emotional state of a speaker providing the voice.</blockquote>Back in 2021, Spotify was granted US patent 10891948 B2 for ''"identification of Taste Attributes from an audio signal"[[:File:US10891948.pdf]] .'' This describes tech that:
+#analyzes what users say
+#Analyzes background noise to determine where you are(bus stop, coffee shop, home, etc)
+#Scores incoming data to guess a user's mood or emotional state.
+The patent describes listening to birds chirping, printers printing, cars on a street. This technology enables Spotify to create detailed profiles of their users' activities, how they feel, and social interactions without users understanding that their data is being collected in this way.
+This is marketed as a music recommendation system. The patent demonstrates that Spotify's capabilities go far further than music taste evaluation, with the ability for personal surveillance.
+According to a statement Spotify gave at news media they are not currently using this in their service, however they have not committed to never using this technology on their service.<ref>{{cite web |last=Heater |first=Alex |title=Spotify is patenting a surveillance system disguised as a music recommendation engine |url=https://www.soundguys.com/spotify-surveillence-patent-51768/ |website=SoundGuys |date=2021-04-14 |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref>
 ===Fake artists and playlist manipulation===
+In recent years, Spotify has experimented with the addition of lower, and with ways to lower the average royalty cost paid out per user, by manipulating playlists to serve users content with smaller royalties attached.
 *Perfect Fit Content (PFC) Program:
@@ Line 42: / Line 61: @@
 ===Privacy violations and data misuse===
+In 2015, Spotify demanded access to users’ contacts, photos, and location via mobile apps, triggering backlash over disproportionate data harvesting.{{CitationNeeded}}
-*Invasive data collection:
-::In 2015, Spotify demanded access to users’ contacts, photos, and location via mobile apps, triggering backlash over disproportionate data harvesting.{{CitationNeeded}}
-*Pay-for-Play allegations:
-::Spotify was accused of taking payments from labels to prioritize songs in playlists, mimicking payola scandals without transparency.<ref name=":1" />
-===Voice & environment surveillance patent===
-<blockquote>The audio signals may be recorded in real-time, or may correspond to previously-recorded audio signals...
-For example, such metadata might include an emotional state...... in one example aspect, the content metadata indicates an emotional state of a speaker providing the voice.</blockquote>Back in 2021, Spotify was granted US patent 10891948 B2 for ''"identification of Taste Attributes from an audio signal"[[:File:US10891948.pdf]] .'' This describes tech that:
-#analyzes what users say
-#Analyzes background noise to determine where you are(bus stop, coffee shop, home, etc)
-#Scores incoming data to guess a user's mood or emotional state.
-The patent describes listening to birds chirping, printers printing, cars on a street. This technology enables Spotify to create detailed profiles of their users' activities, how they feel, and social interactions without users understanding that their data is being collected in this way.
-This is marketed as a music recommendation system. The patent demonstrates that Spotify's capabilities go far further than music taste evaluation, with the ability for personal surveillance.
-According to a statement Spotify gave at news media they are not currently using this in their service, however they have not committed to never using this technology on their service.<ref>{{cite web |last=Heater |first=Alex |title=Spotify is patenting a surveillance system disguised as a music recommendation engine |url=https://www.soundguys.com/spotify-surveillence-patent-51768/ |website=SoundGuys |date=2021-04-14 |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref>
-{{Clear}}
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}
 [[Category:Spotify]]