This page covers Spotify's Terms of Service across 12 scrapes spanning 2022-07-11 to 2025-10-03. The dataset contains only 4 unique snippets — the document's Content-license language barely changes across more than three years of tracked scrapes — a single maximal User Content license clause drives the page's entire risk profile. Spotify_Community_Guidelines.jsonl, Spotify_Content_Policy.jsonl, Spotify_Other.jsonl, and Spotify_Privacy_Policy.jsonl are all empty (0 lines) and have been skipped.
What this wiki found — complete, every page
Presence facts, not verdicts — each flagged term links to its definition and the exact clause on this page. Absence of a badge means the term isn't currently flagged here, not that the page is risk-free.
Independent reviews, where they had something to say
Spotify – Terms of Service
Dataset: PGAv2 (Platform Governance Archive v2) — 25 platforms, 2022–2026
PGAv2 (Platform Governance Archive v2) is this wiki’s legacy dataset: pre-tagged JSONL records covering 25 major social-media, messaging, and content-sharing platforms, with risk scores and keywords assigned via systematic extraction of 1,736 high-risk clauses from each platform’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, and Community Guidelines, spanning 2022–2026.
Note: This page contains documented policy clauses. Risk assessment is qualitative and context-dependent. For analysis of patterns across platforms, see:
Source: sources/jsonl/Spotify_Terms_of_Service.jsonl
Last updated: 2025-10-03
Overview
This page covers Spotify’s Terms of Service across 12 scrapes spanning 2022-07-11 to 2025-10-03. The dataset contains only 4 unique snippets — the document’s Content-license language barely changes across more than three years of tracked scrapes — a single maximal User Content license clause drives the page’s entire risk profile. Spotify_Community_Guidelines.jsonl, Spotify_Content_Policy.jsonl, Spotify_Other.jsonl, and Spotify_Privacy_Policy.jsonl are all empty (0 lines) and have been skipped.
The core clause grants Spotify “a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable [later: sublicensable], royalty-free, fully paid, irrevocable, worldwide license to reproduce, make available, perform and display, translate, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, and otherwise use any such User Content” — one of the broadest single-sentence Content grants in this wiki, paired in the same clause with an explicit moral-rights waiver. A separate “Feedback” clause lets Spotify reuse unsolicited user feedback “without restriction and without payment.” A “Your Device” clause additionally grants Spotify the right to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware of a user’s own device to operate the Service and serve ads.
Flagged Keywords & Risks
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable— Tag Spotify’s User Content license — one of the broadest single grants in this wiki, and it stays with Spotify (unlike some platforms, it isn’t extended to other users). Why it matters: the same sentence includes a moral-rights waiver (it stops you from objecting to how your content is used or credited), and the license covers “any manner… method or technology… whether now known or hereafter created.” That wording is broad enough to plausibly cover AI training, though the captured text doesn’t mention AI specifically.sublicense— A separate “Assignment” clause: Spotify can freely assign or delegate its own rights and duties under the Terms, but users can’t assign, transfer, or sublicense their own rights to anyone else. Why it matters: a one-sided asymmetry — standard boilerplate, but notable here as a second, separate use of sublicense-type language beyond the Content-license clause.
Legal Context & Research Significance
The User Content license — non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid, irrevocable, worldwide, and open-ended enough to cover “any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created” — together with its same-sentence moral-rights waiver, places this clause in wearetosed’s “rights & liability waivers” category. Soneji et al. (2025) report that over 72% of survey respondents rated ToS;DR-style clauses as highly understandable even when they disagreed about severity, which is relevant here: Spotify’s grant is plainly worded and easy to read, yet its scope (irrevocable, transferable to unnamed third parties, valid for any future technology) is severe enough that understandability alone does not protect users from its breadth. The separate “Assignment” clause barring users from sublicensing their own rights, while Spotify retains unrestricted assignment freedom, is a one-sided asymmetry consistent with the provider-favoring pattern Soneji et al. found in roughly two-thirds of analyzed cases.
Changes Summary
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2022-07-11 | Baseline version (first scrape in this dataset). |
| 2022-09-20 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2023-01-19 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2023-03-24 | Cosmetic heading-formatting change (“sub-licensable” → “sublicensable”; markdown anchor headers replaced with bold headers); new “Assignment” clause captured under sublicense for the first time. |
| 2023-03-25 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2023-04-25 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2023-11-14 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2024-03-19 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2024-03-23 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2024-03-27 | No changes from previous version. |
| 2025-08-26 | Minor wording addition: license purpose clause expanded from “in order for us to make your User Content available on the Spotify Service” to add “and to provide you with certain features and functions.” |
| 2025-10-03 | No changes from previous version. |
Version History
2022-07-11
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable
Clause: royalty-free, derivative works, create derivative, transferable, irrevocable
Spotify reserves the right to remove or disable access to any User Content for any or no reason. Spotify may take these actions without prior notification to you. ----- Licenses that you grant to us --------------------------------------------------------------- ### User Content You retain ownership of your User Content when you post it to the Spotify Service. However, in order for us to make your User Content available on the Spotify Service, we do need a limited license from you to that User Content. Accordingly, you hereby grant to Spotify a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, fully paid, irrevocable, worldwide license to reproduce, make available, perform and display, translate, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, and otherwise use any such User Content through any medium, whether alone or in combination with other Content or materials, in any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created, in connection with the Spotify Service. Where applicable and to the extent permitted under applicable law, you also agree to waive, and not to enforce, any “moral rights” or equivalent rights, such as your right to be identified as the author of any User Content, including Feedback, and your right to object to derogatory treatment of such User Content. ### Feedback If you provide ideas, suggestions, or other feedback in connection with your use of the Spotify Service or any Content (“Feedback”), such Feedback is not confidential and may be used by Spotify without restriction and without payment to you. Feedback is considered a type of User Content under these Terms. ### ### Your Device You also grant to us the right (1) to allow the Spotify Service to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware on your Device in order to facilitate the operation of the Spotify Service, (2) to provide advertising and other information to you, and (3) to allow our business partners to do the same.
2022-09-20
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable
All clauses unchanged from 2022-07-11 (see above).
2023-01-19
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable
All clauses unchanged from 2022-09-20 (see above).
2023-03-24
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
Clause: royalty-free, sublicensable, derivative works, create derivative, transferable, irrevocable
Spotify reserves the right to remove or disable access to any User Content for any or no reason. Spotify may take these actions without prior notification to you. ### Licenses that you grant to us User Content You retain ownership of your User Content when you post it to the Spotify Service. However, in order for us to make your User Content available on the Spotify Service, we do need a limited license from you to that User Content. Accordingly, you hereby grant to Spotify a non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid, irrevocable, worldwide license to reproduce, make available, perform and display, translate, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, and otherwise use any such User Content through any medium, whether alone or in combination with other Content or materials, in any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created, in connection with the Spotify Service. Where applicable and to the extent permitted under applicable law, you also agree to waive, and not to enforce, any “moral rights” or equivalent rights, such as your right to be identified as the author of any User Content, including Feedback, and your right to object to derogatory treatment of such User Content. Feedback If you provide ideas, suggestions, or other feedback in connection with your use of the Spotify Service or any Content (“Feedback”), such Feedback is not confidential and may be used by Spotify without restriction and without payment to you. Feedback is considered a type of User Content under these Terms. Your Device You also grant to us the right (1) to allow the Spotify Service to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware on your Device in order to facilitate the operation of the Spotify Service, (2) to provide advertising and other information to you, and (3) to allow our business partners to do the same.
Clause: sublicense
third-party beneficiary to enforce these Terms or any provision thereof shall not waive Spotify’s or the applicable third-party beneficiary’s right to do so.
Assignment
Spotify may assign any or all of these Terms, and may assign or delegate, in whole or in part, any of its rights or obligations under these Terms. You may not assign these Terms, in whole or in part, nor transfer or sublicense your rights under these Terms to any third party.
2023-03-25
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2023-03-24 (see above).
2023-04-25
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2023-03-25 (see above).
2023-11-14
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2023-04-25 (see above).
2024-03-19
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2023-11-14 (see above).
2024-03-23
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2024-03-19 (see above).
2024-03-27
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2024-03-23 (see above).
2025-08-26
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
sublicense unchanged from 2024-03-27.
Clause: royalty-free, sublicensable, derivative works, create derivative, transferable, irrevocable
Spotify reserves the right to remove or disable access to any User Content for any or no reason. Spotify may take these actions without prior notification to you. ### Licenses that you grant to us User Content You retain ownership of your User Content when you post it to the Spotify Service. However, in order for us to make your User Content available on the Spotify Service and to provide you with certain features and functions, we do need a limited license from you to that User Content. Accordingly, you hereby grant to Spotify a non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid, irrevocable, worldwide license to reproduce, make available, perform and display, translate, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, and otherwise use any such User Content through any medium, whether alone or in combination with other Content or materials, in any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created, in connection with the Spotify Service. Where applicable and to the extent permitted under applicable law, you also agree to waive, and not to enforce, any “moral rights” or equivalent rights, such as your right to be identified as the author of any User Content, including Feedback, and your right to object to derogatory treatment of such User Content. Feedback If you provide ideas, suggestions, or other feedback in connection with your use of the Spotify Service or any Content (“Feedback”), such Feedback is not confidential and may be used by Spotify without restriction and without payment to you. Feedback is considered a type of User Content under these Terms. Your Device You also grant to us the right (1) to allow the Spotify Service to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware on your Device in order to facilitate the operation of the Spotify Service, and (2) to provide advertising and other information to you, and (3) to allow our business partners to do the same.
2025-10-03
- Explicit AI clause: NO
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
royalty-free,sublicensable,derivative works,create derivative,transferable,irrevocable,sublicense
All clauses unchanged from 2025-08-26 (see above).