Have no fear, Spotify is not introducing advertisements for premium users. There may still be issues where this kind of thing happens by accident, but it is not in the plans for the streaming service to roll them out full-time.
For now… This could end up being a bold-faced lie but I highly doubt it. The amount of subscribers that would immediately cancel their subscription might crater the company all together.
This whole thing started on Tuesday morning when Amy Rapeer posted what she had heard on X. The freelance video editor/producer/presenter said that Spotify was going to change its entire strategy.
I’ve just heard that apparently Spotify is going to put ads into premium. I’ve had Premium for about 10 years and I tell you this, the SECOND I hear an ad on my Premium account I’m cancelling my subscription. The SECOND. I’m out.
— @amyrapeer / X
Her post quickly racked up more than 500,000 views in less than 10 hours. Another post (with a lot less viewership) shared the same rumor about premium ads.
Hey @Spotify just so you know, if you guys rumoured decide to start putting ads on Spotify premium and add a new premium plus type subscription to get rid of the ads, I will cancel my subscription indefinitely and so will many many others. Probably shouldn’t FAFO.
— @xtravrgn_olive / X
It got to the point that Spotify itself had to address the rumor through its official account.
This rumor is false. Premium music listening is ad-free
— @Spotify / X
Notice the wording here. It might be intentional. The use of the word “is” implies the present but does not address the future. The post also speaks to “premium music” but not podcasts or other content. Spotify kind of tip-toed around what everyone is wondering.
This could mean a few different things:
- Spotify plans to introduce ads to its music listening experience in the future.
- Music will at no point include ads but podcasts might and/or will.
- Premium users will not ever be subject to advertisements.
Hopefully it is the third option. As someone who only uses Spotify, I would be so quick to cancel my subscription the second I heard a commercial for O’Reily’s Auto Parts hit my ears. It would be horrible to have to rebuild all of my playlists and recalibrate my algorithm on a different platform, but I would do so immediately to avoid an advertisement. And I would not be alone in that!
I am unsure as to where Amy Rapeer got her information. I have not seen it posted elsewhere. That’s a good sign.
My guess would be that Rapeer misinterpreted what she read and/or heard about/from Spotify’s Advance event earlier this week. The streaming platform unveiled new advertising tools and strategies that are designed to deepen advertiser engagement, streamline campaign creation, and drive measurable results across the platform. Perhaps wires got crossed along the way like a childhood game of telephone.
She may also be confused by some issues that popped up over the last few months. Some premium users reported ads while streaming despite the status of their account. Spotify issued the following statement to those who expressed concern:
Thanks for your patience while we looked into this issue. This should now be fixed. If you’re still having issues, remember to log out of the app and back in again 2-3 times in a row in order to force a resync.
— Spotify
Of course, that does not include the one-off advertisements for specific podcasts. That is out of Spotify’s control. The same goes for if, say, Carrie Underwood decides to throw an advertisement right in the middle of one of her songs. Can you imagine?!
All of this goes to say that there will not be ads on Spotify for premium users. For now….