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BDS calls for boycott of Spotify (bdsmovement.net)

submitted 5 hours ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Palestinian-led BDS movement, endorses the growing, organic consumer boycott of Spotify.

In October 2025, Spotify users began to hear racist recruitment ads for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the agency continues to terrorize immigrant communities and those in solidarity with them across the country.

Spotify’s complicity in Israeli apartheid goes much deeper than the typical lifecycle of these unethical and potentially illegal ads. The company launched in the Israeli market with a multi-year deal with Partner Communications Company Ltd, an Israeli telecommunications company listed in the United Nations’ database of businesses involved in illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Any such deal violates the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s entire presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and amounts to apartheid. Failure of corporations to comply with international law may also constitute criminal complicity, according to leading legal experts.

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 1 hour ago

Better yet, pirate all of their music before you boycott them then put it online for free. Someone posted some tool to do that or something.

[–] nyankas@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

If someone‘s looking for an alternative, I‘d recommend Qobuz after trying Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. They‘re European, pay artists very well, don‘t support AI slop, have excellent audio quality and I haven‘t yet stumbled upon any artists or albums missing from their library (though your experience may vary).

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 4 hours ago

IMO the best time to start boycotting Spotify was when they spent hundreds of millions of dollars which should have been going to artists and songwriters, and instead went to right-wing conspiracy theorists.

I switched to Apple Music years before that because AM had Japanese music and Spotify didn't have very much. Spotify has since caught up. But, the way Apple's been sucking up to a certain orange dictator, it's hard to recommend them in this political climate. If nothing else, they pay artists more. However, they also leverage the Apple App Store against their competitors, charging them 30% of membership fees while directly competing with them, forcing them to raise prices. So, maybe AM isn't as bad as Spotify ethically, but I think we can do better.