“At Spotify we have a personal relationship with over 191 million people who show us their true colors with zero filter,” reads a current advertising deck. “That’s a lot of authentic engagement with our audience: billions of data points every day across devices! This data fuels Spotify’s streaming intelligence—our secret weapon that gives brands the edge to be relevant in real-time moments.” Another brand-facing pitch proclaims: “The most exciting part? This new research is starting to reveal the streaming generation’s offline behaviors through their streaming habits.”Big Mood Machine

I prefer Spotify over Apple Music and generally think their playlists are better curated but something about this is deeply disturbing. The notion was always that “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” - but with Spotify we are paying so one would assume that it would be enough. Apparently not.

Apple’s bet on privacy is beginning to make more and more sense.