Science

Spotify's feature wants to give your personal data to record companies in exchange for timely music


Spotify’s ‘pre-save’ feature that adds songs and albums to your library the moment they’re released gives record companies access to your personal data

  • Spotify is letting record companies intimate access to user data in new feature
  • The ‘pre-save’ feature is requesting users for email addresses and other access
  • Some permissions let companies add songs to playlists and libraries 
  • Requests are often buried in ‘learn more’ sections which must be read through 
  • There are new rules on what companies are allowed to do with that data
  • Sony, Warner Music Group, and Universal are among the biggest collectors 

Some users of Spotify’s ‘pre-save’ feature are agreeing to a lot more than they realize when adding new songs and albums to their library.  

Billboard reports that record companies are burying some intimate permissions into Spotify’s pre-save feature, which allows users to add an album to their library the moment it’s released. 

Among those requests are access to a users’ email, listening habits, followers, saved songs, and perhaps most notably, a ‘read-and-write’ type privilege to add or remove library songs and artists as well as create playlists on one’s account.  

Spotify is giving record companies access to users' personal data by burying permission requests in its 'pre-save' feature. File photo

Spotify is giving record companies access to users’ personal data by burying permission requests in its ‘pre-save’ feature. File photo

Aside from permission to add to a user’s library there is no apparent need for company’s to ask for access to emails or other personal information. 

While all account access must technically be consented, Billboard points out that in order for users to review the level of permission they’re granting labels, they have to read through a list of terms after pressing a ‘learn more’ button. 

As is the case with most ‘terms of service’ agreements, many are likely to skip such literature altogether and go straight to saving their songs.

Though the data gathering is perfectly legal, for some people, somewhat under-the-radar collections on their accounts may ruffle feathers. 

Sony is reportedly the most aggressive of the record companies using Spotify to scrape listener data, requesting 10 different permissions before users pre-save. 

Some companies ask for nearly a dozen different kinds of permission for allowing users to 'pre-save' an album or song.

Some companies ask for nearly a dozen different kinds of permission for allowing users to ‘pre-save’ an album or song.

WHAT IS SPOTIFY DOING WITH YOUR DATA? 

A recent report details Spotify’s bid to give record companies access to its users information.

By hiding permission requests in agreements for its ‘pre-save’ feature that lets users add songs the minute they’re released, Spotify is dishing out loads of user data.

Record companies are given access to email addresses, listening data, and are able to add, remove, and edit personal playlists and songs.

Record companies aren’t given guidelines on what they do with the data.

Other streaming services like Apple Music offer similar access to third parties but do not offer personally identifiable info.  

Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group also ask for the same permissions according to Billboard. 

Like other efforts to harvest user data, record labels can use listener data to target music or in potentially, in some cases, sell their information on listener habits to marketing and advertising agencies.

Record labels aren’t alone in the efforts to scrape up user data: sometimes artists are getting in on the collection, reports Billboard. 

Ingrid Michaelson asks for 12 permissions requests to pre-save her newest album which includes access to account information and privileges to edit a user’s personal playlist. 

In some cases, users are being signed up automatically for emails from artists without ever requesting. 

The previously unreported practice of collecting data and sometimes altering users’ experiences in Spotify is seemingly under little scrutiny from the company. There are reportedly no rules or regulations on what companies can do with the data gleaned in their efforts. 

Apple Music, Spotify’s biggest competitor, which has been working to crack the app’s dominance in the streaming market does not share identifying information on its users but does let third parties look at user libraries and listening data.   

 



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