"How to stop Spotify from sharing your data, and why you should", 5 April 2022

… [A]ccording to privacy experts… Spotify users should pay attention to how their data is used, and take the available steps to limit that use whenever possible… Evan Greer, the director of the digital advocacy organization Fight for the Future ... [said]"Spotify uses the same surveillance capitalist business model as Facebook and YouTube: they harvest your data and sell access to it to advertisers who think they can use that data to manipulate you into buying their products and services."

… Spotify [may collect] (but is in no way limited to) general location data, search queries, "inferences (i.e., our understanding) of your interests and preferences" gathered from "certain advertising or marketing partners," "motion-generated or orientation-generated mobile sensor data," and… a list of every song you've ever listened to as well as how many times and at what time of day you played it ... Spotify also says it may collect data… from third party "advertising or marketing partners."

"Spotify doesn't sell music," explained Fight for the Future's Greer. "They sell surveillance. Their customers are not musicians and music listeners. Their customers are advertisers."

[According to the company,] "Spotify is committed to user privacy and works to provide transparent information about the personal data we collect and how it is protected at our Privacy Center”… "Spotify uses listening history or 'likes' within the app to inform recommendations of songs or podcasts that a user may enjoy… Advertisers may also be able to target ads to listeners of certain genres or playlists, but we do not make inferences about users' emotions."