Music streaming service Spotify donated $150,000 to the inauguration fund of former US President Donald Trump, according to reports. The Swedish company also hosted a brunch event before Trump’s inauguration, where several prominent political figures and YouTubers ate “caviar” and “hamburgers off sticks”, according to Bloomberg. The donation was made with the aim of expanding Spotify’s presence in Washington DC, a Spotify spokesperson told Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter newspaper. The official added that similar donations are regularly made to various global capitals in order to further company policy objectives.
The donation was initially kept under wraps by Spotify, however, several other tech companies were reported to have donated much larger sums to the January 2017 event. These included Google, Meta, Uber, OpenAI, Amazon and Apple, which gave $1m each according to The Guardian and Variety.
A Spotify statement hailed the brunch event as a celebration of podcasting’s influence in the 2020 US election, adding that “Spotify has long hosted events in Washington DC, and other capitals worldwide, bringing together political leaders, media figures, and industry peers from across the political spectrum.”
Many did not agree with the streaming company’s political contributions, drawing attention to allegations about Trump and concerns among Spotify’s own staff. One employee, for example, complained to the company’s diversity and inclusion team in an email made public that the donation was “incredibly disturbing to many of us”, while numerous musicians and others called on Spotify to remove Trump’s podcast from their platform for violating their content guidelines.
Despite the backlash, Ek Daniel appeared to have had a good year financially. In December 2024, the CEO cashed out almost $100m in company stock
Read the full article from Mixmag here: Read More
