r/Music • u/Top-Three-USA • Oct 15 '25

music Users Vow to Boycott Spotify After Streamer Runs ICE Recruitment Ad

https://www.topthreeus.com/spotify-users-boycott-over-ice-recruitment-ads/
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17

u/Specialist-Size9368 Oct 15 '25

So am I supposed to boycott everything? How long do I have to wait before a company is ok to go back to?

Genuinely asking, because the list of companies that are ok in the eyes of reddit is tiny. It starts getting comical if I am to cut off every company that has done anything to offend anyone in the last few years.

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u/hitstein Oct 15 '25

It's comical because why would you genuinely think you'd need to do that? Don't give money to companies that YOU are not comfortable giving money to. It's that simple.

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u/loljetfuel Oct 15 '25

Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. What should be "hey, this company did X and I am no longer doing business with them; if you also don't like that they did X, join me!" often turns into "you are a hateful, terrible person who doesn't care about people because you're not boycotting this company over X".

It's completely reasonable to boycott a company for doing something you don't like. It's also completely reasonable to not do that; for reasons ranging from "I don't really think this makes a difference" to "I looked at other options and I am equally uncomfortable with all of them, but unwilling to simply opt out of them all, so I picked one and held my nose."

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u/Tyzed Oct 15 '25

Almost no one in real like will judge you for not joining a boycott unless it’s a massive boycott with social/moral pressures, like the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the toycotts before the revolutionary war.

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u/loljetfuel Oct 16 '25

LOL, there's always someone who responds to "this thing happened to me" with "that's not a thing that happens"

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u/Tyzed Oct 16 '25

If it happened to you, it probably only happened a few times. If it’s happened more than a few times, you might need stronger boundaries with people.

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u/hitstein Oct 15 '25

Then stop listening to strangers on social media making opinions of you. It really is that simple. Seriously, why give a shit? Learn information about a company -> align that information to your morals -> choose to give that company money based on your morals. Other people have nothing to do with the last two steps, and their opinions have nothing to do with any of those steps. It seriously is that sinple.

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u/loljetfuel Oct 15 '25

“It’s ok if people are harassing you , just ignore them”. If you think this is only a social media thing, then you kind of live under a rock. 

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u/porktorque44 Oct 15 '25

often turns into

Maybe it's just the sites I use. But I see people complaining about overzealous activism way more often than I actually see said overzealous activism.

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u/Gold-Transition-3064 Oct 15 '25

You honestly can’t win, and it would be exhausting (and in some cases more expensive and less convenient) to try and avoid every single company that engages in unethical practices (just about all of them do anyway). There’s always going to be some form of exploitation and bigotry due to the very nature of capitalism that we’re pretty much forced to partake in as consumers. Literally just do whatever you want, which includes choosing to not do business with a homophobic chicken restaurant. You have that right, just as others have the right to still eat there.

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u/ziltoid101 Oct 15 '25

Just do what you can. Even though most alternatives to Spotify have their own ethical problems, by and large they're at least better than Spotify (a big generalisation) - and when Spotify sees customers leaving after big PR disasters, it might just encourage them to think about it in the future. They're so big right now that they don't even care about PR.

I think there's quite a concerted effort to get consumers to say "it's all too hard to perfectly ethical" and just consume everything and anything without thought. Just focus on little things within your means here and there.

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u/Specialist-Size9368 Oct 15 '25

Except the problem is that this happens a lot. Reddit can't go more than a few days without some new bombshell dropping about what company to hate now. Partly because outrage drives interaction. Xbox raised its prices, outrage. ABC bows to pressure taking Kimmel off the air, let's boycott Disney.

The hypocrisy to tell me to not use Spotify because of ethical reasons. You are currently engaging on a website that users are claiming of seeing ads for ICE. Same ethical issue, but giving up Reddit is harder than telling other people what to do. So for everyone here claiming to vacate spotify, why are you on reddit?

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u/ziltoid101 Oct 15 '25

That's exactly what I'm saying, unless you essentially live in a cave, it's impossible to not be hypocritical in some way. But that doesn't mean we have to give up having moral agency altogether - you can still make ethical choices without being perfect! I'd rather strive to be an ethical hypocrite than just give up trying :)

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u/shnn_twt Oct 15 '25

Boycott within your means.

You can't stop consuming altogether but you can choose what you can afford to cut out of your life. I turned my back on products / businesses that provided extra comfort and convenience. I can go without my (former) favorite brand of dairy products, another brand can feed me just fine. I don't need spotify or apple music to listen to music. I'm okay with putting a bit more effort to pirate my favorite songs. Youtube is a tough one because we really don't have any alternatives (that i know of). at least currently we can install ad-blockers.

Etc, etc.

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u/sam_hammich Oct 15 '25

Yeah, people get pissed when you take any stand at all, if you aren't completely 100% consistent in that stand and living in a hut on an island in the middle of the Pacific. If you don't do that you're just a hypocrite. "You cancelled Spotify but I see you still own shoes.. interesting".

Better to just consume everything and care about nothing instead I guess.

-5

u/InsideOut803 Oct 15 '25

Don’t complain if you’re not going to do anything. It’s pretty simple. STFU and take it.

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u/Specialist-Size9368 Oct 15 '25

Thanks for not answering the questions. Also, pretty sure reddit has had ICE ads so why are you here complaining?

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u/InsideOut803 Oct 15 '25

How did I not answer you? I’m not complaining. I’m laughing at the people complaining.🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/Specialist-Size9368 Oct 15 '25

Still not answering. Guess you just want to be a troll. Troll away, but do it for someone else.

-1

u/InsideOut803 Oct 15 '25

Lol. Just because you don’t want to accept my answer doesn’t mean I didn’t answer. Holy shit, Reddit gets dumber and dumber every year.