Some Spotify Users Demand Refunds Over Drake 'Scorpion SZN' Promotion

Canadian rap icon Drake is probably thrilled with how his newest album, “Scorpion,” has done so far. The 25-track epic shattered streaming service records, shot to the top of the charts, and dominated the pop culture conversation over the weekend in the way only someone as ubiquitous as Drake can.

A handful of Spotify users are significantly less enthused about “Scorpion,” or at least the idea of having to see Drake’s face in the popular streaming app. Some Spotify Premium subscribers have asked Spotify for a refund on this month’s payment because they felt the app’s #ScorpionSZN promotion constituted an advertisement, according to Billboard.

Spotify users can pay $10 per month for a Premium subscription that removes all playback restrictions, adds a handful of nifty features and, perhaps most importantly, completely gets rid of advertisements. However, Spotify plastered Drake’s visage all over the curated playlists that populate the app’s home screen over the weekend to promote the release of “Scorpion.”

It was so prevalent that the Champagne Papi’s face was apparently used for playlists that did not even include his music, according to Billboard.

A Reddit post in which a user claimed they got a refund from Spotify after complaining about the Drake ads got thousands of upvotes, prompting others to do the same. However, not everyone reported receiving the same generosity from Spotify. The streaming service reportedly did not have a formal refund policy in place, per Billboard.

It was the first promotion of its kind for Spotify, and the reaction from some shows that the service might need to rethink its approach in the future. The #ScorpionSZN promotion did not interrupt anyone’s listening experience in the same way traditional Spotify ads do, but some still felt it was a breach of ethics on Spotify’s part.