Spotify Wrapped 2025 dropped on December 3, so, of course, now comes the deluge of social media posts with users comparing their year-long listening data. Indeed, calls to boycott streaming services that don’t adequately pay the content creators who make up the platform tend to dwindle (or disappear altogether) on Wrapped Day.
Still, amid the annual excitement over public-sanctioned data collection, several organizations and activist groups are continuing the push for users to boycott Spotify. Since this summer, many artists have already left the platform after news broke of former CEO Daniel Ek’s multi-million-dollar investment in AI military drone technology.
Last year, there was a similar discourse surrounding the music platform, though on a comparably scaled-down scale. 2024 Wrapped season sparked conversations around artist payouts and living wages. This year, we’ve moved on to warmongering, genocide, and AI.
Indivisible Project, Working Families, and 50501 Movement are three grassroots organizations that are calling on Spotify users to boycott the platform. In the wake of organizing the massive No Kings protest, they’ve come together again to launch the Spotify Unwrapped campaign. This project is in protest of Spotify running ICE recruitment ads, as well as its promotion of AI-generated music and Ek’s investment.
Grassroots Organizations Are Calling For Spotify Boycott
Spotify isn’t just playing along with the Trump regime’s authoritarian turn – they’re amplifying it,” said Indivisible’s co-founder and co-executive director, Ezra Levin, in a statement via Consequence. “Spotify only works because of us. Now it’s on all of us to force accountability.”
Spotify Unwrapped includes downloadable graphics that supporters can use on social media. They feature information and stats on Spotify’s involvement in ICE recruitment, AI military tech, and artist exploitation. The campaign also urges users to cancel Spotify subscriptions and delete the app. Overall, the goal is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the company.
Meanwhile, another boycott campaign is underway. Fight For The Future, a non-profit digital rights advocacy group, has put together Spotify Whacked. This campaign asks users to make a New Year’s resolution to cancel the app, complete with a form to fill out for accountability. There are also downloadable graphics and videos to post on socials and spread the word. Additionally, Spotify Whacked goes the extra mile and shares alternative music apps and platforms that have proven track records of paying artists fairly, among other green flags.
“Sharing a Spotify Wrapped shouldn’t be a comfortable experience for listeners this holiday season,” said Lia Holland of Fight For The Future in a statement. “Instead, we are making Spotify’s annual art-washing an incitement to consider whether you want to be complicit with devaluing music, AI killing machines, and human rights abuses.”
Thinking about leaving Spotify? Check out Unwrapped or Whacked to get started. Considering sharing your Wrapped data on Instagram? Go ahead, we should let people like things. However, if you’re interested in looking into other options, they’re there for you to explore. Do with that information what you will, music lovers.
Photo by Fight For The Future
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