Spotify
9,742 words · ~49 min read · Last updated November 2023
Clause-by-Clause Translation
Original
"We may use information about your listening habits, playlist activity, and device usage to provide personalized advertising through our advertising partners."
Translation
Your 3am playlist of breakup songs from 2007 is a marketing signal. It has been sold to someone who wants to sell you something for 3am breakup energy. The Bureau regrets to inform you that "Drivers License" counts as a demographic.
Original
"You grant 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 your User Content."
Translation
That playlist you made for your ex? Spotify can reproduce, translate, distribute, modify, and create derivative works from it. Perpetually. For free. Worldwide. "Irrevocable" is not a word that should be in a document you clicked through in 2014.
Original
"Spotify may terminate or suspend your account at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice."
Translation
Your eight years of meticulously curated listening data, twelve collaborative playlists, and the liked-songs library you have been building since your twenties can be deleted at any time for any reason without telling you why.
Original
"Any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be resolved by binding arbitration rather than in court."
Translation
If Spotify does something to you that you believe is wrong, you have agreed not to sue them in court. You will instead go to private arbitration — a process designed and paid for by the company — and your outcome will be binding and confidential. You agreed to this the first time you clicked play.
Original
"We may also collect information about your interactions with our advertising partners, including whether you clicked on an ad or whether you heard an audio ad."
Translation
Spotify tracks whether you skipped the ad. They know you skipped it. They know how many seconds before the end you skipped it. This information goes to advertisers.
What You Actually Agreed To
A perpetual worldwide license for any content you upload or create on the platform
That Spotify can terminate your account without cause or notice, taking your entire library with it
That disputes must go to private arbitration, not court
That your listening data can be used for targeted advertising
That Spotify can change these terms at any time and your continued use counts as acceptance
That you will not hold Spotify liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages
Bureau Summary
"Spotify's terms are a tour de force of politely worded extraction. They have built a legal document that reads like a startup blog post but means, upon translation, that you are the product and the playlist is the packaging. The Bureau filed this under "very smooth, suspiciously smooth.""
— Bureau Translation Service