Spotify has removed the profiles of Russian musicians who support the war in Ukraine from its music streaming platform. The move comes after the company shuttered its Moscow office in 2022, in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and suspended its services in the country, following the introduction of a new law that makes it illegal to report any event that could discredit the Russian military. The pro-war Russian artists whose music has been taken down from Spotify’s platform include Lyube, Grigory Leps, Oleg Gazmanov, Polina Gagarina, and Shaman.
Spotify stated that its platform rules clearly state that it takes action when it identifies content that explicitly violates its content policies or local laws. However, the company did not specify exactly which content violated its policies. A handful of the affected artists have been under EU sanctions since the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Shaman, for example, is said to have repeatedly participated in Kremlin-organized concerts, including the Kremlin’s anniversary event for that war, and given concerts in the illegally occupied regions of Ukraine, while Gagarina allegedly generated significant revenue from state-sponsored events that celebrated the annexation of Ukrainian regions under Moscow’s partial control.
Last month, Deadmau5 criticized Spotify following comments made by its CEO, Daniel Ek, about the cost of “creating content”. Deadmau5 suggested that he may remove his music from the platform after Ek referred to musicians as “feeling like they’re not being paid enough” but that “some artists that are generating a lot of streams, you can generate tens of millions of streams and that cash flow can end up being quite meaningful”.
Although Spotify has continued to believe it is critically important to keep its service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information from the region, the company has taken the decision to remove the content of pro-war Russian artists from its platform. This decision comes after the streaming platform shuttered its Moscow office in 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suspended its services in the country in response to a new law making it illegal to report any event that could discredit the Russian military
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