The streaming giant’s shares have plummeted as furious users threaten to abandon the platform over a controversial issue.
Abisha Sapkota
Spotify’s stock dropped over 13 per cent in the last month, well out of step with much of the rest of the tech sector.
This decline was followed by a whopping 28.6 per cent loss over the last six months, with investors seemingly becoming increasingly wary of the company’s valuation at a rate of knots.
But why are investors dumping it?
Well, the popular streaming service has been facing constant online scrutiny from users for various reasons.
As of now, users appear dissatisfied with the streaming service for their lack of transparency with the release of music by AI artists.
“It really should be something that has to be identified. ‘Created with AI’ should be a label that’s required,” one user said on TikTok.
With a handful of AI artists releasing music on the streaming service, some with millions of streams, users are turning away from the service to support real-life musicians.
Sienna Rose, an AI musician, has over 3.2 million monthly listeners and nearly 50,000 followers.
On Spotify, the AI artist is labelled as a “neo-soul singer” and described as “not just a performer, but a storyteller of the heart”.
With no AI tagger on the profile, for an average listener, a doubt wouldn’t cross their mind.
“AI is a fast-moving shift for the entire music industry, and it’s not always possible to draw a simple line between ‘AI’ and ‘non-AI’ music,” a spokesperson for Spotify told news.com.au.
“Spotify does not create or own any music, and does not promote or penalise tracks created using AI tools.”
Many users are looking to shift to other streaming services like Deezer, an online streaming platform, which has incorporated AI music taggers to analyse content and identify AI-generated elements.
But for Spotify users, this isn’t a one-off, and definitely not their first AI issue with the service.
In 2024, Spotify received backlash for its annual Spotify wrapped.
Spotify wrapped, which has now become an end-of-year ritual for many, was created by Jewel Ham, an artist who worked as a Spotify design intern.
This design began in 2015 when it was called “your year in music”, giving you an annual personalised recap of your top songs, artists, and listening habits.
It was fun, interactive and shareable.
In 2024, the wrap didn’t live up to users’ expectations with accusations that the company was using AI, making data less personalised and removing fan favourite features.
“If the lack of fun facts in Spotify wrapped this year taught us anything it’s that the world needs less of AI and more chronically online data analysts with a sense of humour,” a user wrote on X.
Moving forward to 2026, the company has become the most expensive music streaming platform when compared to its competitors like Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music.
Spotify also recently announced its third hike in prices in the last 30 months across the US.
Individual premium plans are rising to $12.99 from $11.99, duo plans increase to $18.99 from $16.99, and family plans rose to $21.99 from $19.99.
This is also affecting student plans, increasing them from $5.99 to $6.99.
The rise in cost is also turning heads.
While the company reported a profit of over a billion in 2025, its current stock is traditionally at a high “premium” that the market is now questioning.
But despite their profits, their royalty payouts are the lowest in comparison to their competitors.
Back in 2014, singer and songwriter Taylor Swift removed her albums and singles from Spotify in protest of their low royalty payouts to artists.
But many are still saying this still hasn’t improved.
“It’s time to take my music off Spotify,” Aotearoa’s biggest names, Tiki Taane, said.
Tiki Taane is part of the Boycott Spotify NZ, a collective of artists removing their music from the streaming service.
The collective put out a statement which said, “We refuse to be exploited by Spotify any longer.
