In the past week, listeners using Spotify’s ad-supported plan have reported encountering commercials from the Department of Homeland Security. Like those that have been served frequently on platforms like Pandora, YouTube, Max and Hulu in recent months, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency ads employ xenophobia and propagandist appeals to duty to encourage recruitment. As individual users organize boycotts, major indie labels ANTI- and Epitaph Records have directly addressed the platform with an official statement.
The LA-based sister labels objected to Spotify’s ICE ads with a message posted to their respective social channels today, which states that the companies have “join[ed] others in the independent community in calling on Spotify to remove ICE recruitment ads. Artists and fans deserve platforms that reflect the values of the culture they sustain. We call on Spotify to remove these ads immediately.”
In response to new criticism, Spotify commented that it has no plans to remove the DHS commercials. “This advertisement is part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming, and online channels,” Spotify said in a statement to Newsweek on Tuesday, Oct. 14. “The content does not violate our advertising policies. However, users can mark any ad with a thumbs up or thumbs down to help manage their ads preferences.”
Last week, the Associated Press reported that ad spending for the national recruitment campaign has passed $6.5 million of ICE’s $30 billion initiative to hire 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year. “The ICE recruitment campaign is a resounding success with more than 150,000 applications rolling in from patriotic Americans answering the call to defend the Homeland by helping arrest and remove the worst of the worst from our country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented for Rolling Stone.
Spotify’s advertising scandal arrives as the platform faces backlash for founder Daniel Ek’s venture capital firm Prima Materia and its investment in Helsing, a defense technology company specializing in AI-enhanced weapons and surveillance systems. Widespread objection to the connection has led several high-profile artists to remove their music from the platform, including Sylvan Esso, Massive Attack, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cindy Lee, Hotline TNT, Skee Mask, John Mailander and more.
“While no solution is perfect, we simply can’t continue to put our life’s work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines,” Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn expressed today. “Reaching towards the world we all deserve, even though we are not in it yet.”
Spotify has made several other changes as criticism has intensified, including the announcement of Ek’s transition from CEO to a new role as executive chairman, the introduction of lossless audio streaming and a new AI policy.
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