Do we like Spotify?
Music and podcast streaming service with over 700 million users, run from Stockholm, Sweden.
Our score: 4 out of 10. Mixed. It's a useful service, but there's a long-running artist pay row, a privacy fine and a founder's weapons-tech bet. We'd hold back our money for now.
Spotify was founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Sweden. It grew into the biggest music streaming platform in the world. At the start of 2026, Ek stepped back from CEO to become Executive Chairman. Long-serving executives Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström took over as co-CEOs.
The big drama of 2025 was Ek's money going into Helsing, a German defence firm making AI-powered combat drones. Reports said he led a €600m investment. Artists including King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard, Deerhoof and Massive Attack pulled their music, according to Rolling Stone, and boycott calls followed.
Pay is the older, nagging complaint. Artists' union UMAW has campaigned for better royalties and called Ek a warmonger who pays artists poverty wages. Deutsche Welle noted that rivals like Amazon and Apple use a similar royalty model. A New York judge sent a 'payola' class action to individual arbitration in April 2026. Spotify denied the allegations.
On privacy, Sweden's regulator IMY fined Spotify SEK 58m (about €5m) in 2023 for not being clear enough about how it uses people's data. IMY called the failings low in seriousness. On tax, Spotify's own filing says authorities have challenged its positions, with €43m in assessments that it is contesting.
Our score is 4. We found plenty of criticism and not much clearly good behaviour. The Helsing row mostly concerns Ek's own investment, but it has hurt trust among artists. Until the pay model and the artist relationship improve, we'd keep our money elsewhere.