The end of November meant something.
It wasn't just that the holiday season was just weeks away or that a Black Friday shopping frenzy was inevitable, but that something fun and exciting was about to arrive at any moment: Spotify Wrapped.
The annual survey of users' personal listening data from the audio streaming platform first launched in 2015 – at the time called “The Year in Music” – and became an online event in the mid-to-late 2010s.
Like clockwork, social media platforms like Instagram and X will be flooded with graphics from Spotify users showing their listening tastes over the past year. The feature became so popular that rival platforms, including Apple Music, began releasing their own versions in the late 2010s and early 2020s, without much fanfare.
But the internet has been unusually quiet this year during the period when Spotify Wrapped usually appears. The lack of expectations comes at a challenging time for the streaming platform, as it faces backlash over issues including artist compensation, AI-generated music and ICE recruiting advertising.
Controversy escalates in 2025
Over the last decade, Spotify Wrapped has really distinguished itself with unique features that summarize a user's music activity year after year in the form of fun visualizations like colorful auras and cities. These features regularly go viral, spawning memes that last for weeks.
Statistics showing things like the number of minutes played, the number of unique songs played, or the maximum percentage of fans of a particular artist have become a source of pride. Plus, the best songs and albums lists evoke a sense of nostalgia, providing a soundtrack to important memories from the past year.
But the 2025 controversy has wreaked havoc on the streaming service.
Firstly, this is remuneration for artists. Spotify has long been criticized for its dismal payouts to artists. Earlier this year, some Grammy-nominated songwriters even boycotted the Spotify awards ceremony in response to the company's decision to lower royalty rates for songwriters and publishers by combining a premium music service with audiobooks last year.
Then came the outcry surrounding Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek. investments in HelsingGerman defense company. When news broke that the CEO was funding a military AI tech company through his investment firm Prima Materia, indie artists such as Massive Attack, Deerhoof and Godspeed You! Black Emperor removed their music from the platform in the summer as a sign of protest.
At the end of September Ek announced that he would resignation from the post of CEO while remaining executive chairman.
When it comes to artificial intelligence in music, users also think Spotify can't handle it. Last summer The Velvet Sundown, a group created by artificial intelligence.made headlines around the world, racking up over a million streams on Spotify in just a few weeks. The company does not label music created by artificial intelligence, but announced in September that he is working to strengthen AI protections for artists, including AI disclosures.
Toronto-based culture commentator Richie Assali said the past 12 months have been a real turning point in his relationship with Spotify, citing both the streaming service's “slow adoption of artificial intelligence” and the decision by smaller indie artists to leave the streaming giant in response to Ek's investment in Helsing.
“For us, changing the streaming platform, going to Apple or Tidal is such a small thing. But for artists to stick their neck out like that… it’s a really big decision,” he said.
“I think if you're a true music fan, you should take your cues from the artists you listen to and respect… I really think this is the start of change, and I'm hopeful.”
Hip-hop veterans Mastermind and Jay Smooth join Elamin to discuss rap's brief decline on the Billboard chart and why artists are still investing in streaming when radio pays staggeringly more than Spotify.
“The shine has really faded.”
There were also several high-profile lawsuits. A class action lawsuit was filed earlier this month. accusing Spotify of accepting payment in exchange for promotion in Discovery Mode playlists, which are designed to provide paying users with a personalized, curated playlist based on their actual music listening habits. Also in early November, a lawsuit was filed against Spotify. claims billions of scam threads using botsfor the benefit of artists like Drake.
However, the last straw for some users was a controversial decision. to run recruitment advertisements U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has come under fire this year for raiding U.S. workplaces and other sites and arresting migrants. Since Spotify began advertising to free users in October, there have been calls for a boycott of the platform, with some paying users saying online that they decided to cancel their subscriptions on principle.
As Spotify's Wrapped season approaches, Assali said “the shine has really dulled.”
“I think true music fans have discovered that there are better ways… to share their taste in music than to rely on this big company,” he said.
Toronto-based music journalist Emily Hanskamp said she was seeing “boycotts at a rate we've never seen before.”
“The idea behind this platform has always been to discover and distribute music from the indie level up,” she said. “And now we increasingly understand that this is not true and that in fact in many cases it works against most artists.”
Hanskamp quoted Liz Pelly's book. mood machinewhich was released earlier this year and brought the conversation to the forefront.
“I think this year we'll see that discourse become more public,” she said. “I think this book… comes at the perfect time, where consumers are now confronted with the truth of the platforms and technologies they use.”
Hanskamp said she believes the lack of buzz around Spotify Wrapped this year will continue even after it subsides, as more and more people choose not to engage with the platform due to its controversies.
“Ethics are now woven into the optics of fandom… There was an opportunity to plead ignorance, but now artists and industry insiders are really engaging fans and regular everyday consumers in a way we weren't before because the situation has become so dire,” she said.
“So now you can't close your eyes and ears and say, 'Here's my Spotify package,' without knowing what that says about you as a fan.”
