Drake and Spotify recently partnered up for an over-the-top promotion, placing the rapper’s latest album Scorpion and related content on the platform’s landing page to excess. Now, some paid subscribes are asking for their money back — because while they expected an ad-free listening experience they got a whole lotta Drake instead.
During what the music streaming platform declared “Scorpion SZN,” the album was being streamed 10 million times per hour on Spotify thanks to its overboard promo. The album has been undeniably successful, and even shattered the overall one-week streaming record after just three days.
However, Spotify’s numbers didn’t even come close to matching that of Apple Music — 130 million streams compared to 170 million respectively in that critical first day. “Scorpion SZN” completely backfired.
If you didn’t happen to log onto Spotify when Drake’s album dropped last Friday, well, it went a little something like this…
Spotify: YOU WILL LISTEN TO DRAKE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.
Me: But I want to….
Spotify: DRAKE. pic.twitter.com/xdxcej6bB5
— Dani Deahl (@danideahl) June 29, 2018
And, if you didn’t already know, there’s a Drake for every mood. Just ask Spotify…
There's a @Drake for practically every mood. #ScorpionSZN is here. Listen now on Spotify 🦂https://t.co/Gfa32R9WN1 pic.twitter.com/p1qbGsac88
— Spotify (@Spotify) June 29, 2018
Needless to say, music lovers everywhere became upset with the pushy Drake promotions…
How do I block Drake from Spotify? pic.twitter.com/ALmfBmbhKr
— lui (@lou_cidity) July 1, 2018
Spotify: hey, we make playlists catered to your unique tastes.
Spotify user: listens to 18 hours of Mongolian throat singing, Icelandic drumming bands and a peruvian death metal band.
Spotify: pls listen to drake— spochadóir (@spochadoir) July 1, 2018
I love @spotify but nah. Drake is on all covers, I get that. But After Dark in the gospel playlist, or any explicit song in these types of playlists, is disrespectful to the people who listen to those playlists to avoid this. https://t.co/jNYI2V9tNL
— Xavier Omär 🍯🌙🏔️ (@XvrOmar) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/Black_Foxter/status/1013447493940629504
According to one subscriber, Spotify will dish out refunds to anyone who wasn’t feeling the “Scorpion SZN” promotion (see below).
Spotify declined to comment on the situation, but sources have claimed to Billboard that complaints have been relatively minimal and no official refund policy has been put in place.
Moral of the story: people love Drake’s music, but they don’t want it shoved down their throats.
https://twitter.com/notkaranarora/status/1013862692396781568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1013862692396781568&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edmtunes.com%2F2018%2F07%2Fspotify-refunds-drake%2F
H/T: Billboard
