New terms and conditions at Spotify - you should pay attention to this

The new Terms and Conditions from Spotify cause confusion for many users. What data does Spotify want to access and why does Spotify need it? In the following, we briefly introduce the new content and tell you how you can react to it.

Photos, contacts and motion profile - the new Spotify terms and conditions

Of course, Spotify has always collected data about its users. This applies to every other streaming service as well. Although Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has already tweeted that some of the changes have been misinterpreted and Spotify will probably change them again in a timely manner, the terms and conditions are currently valid as you can find them on the website. These include the following new access rights:

• First, Spotify reserves the right to pass on all data to third parties, be it for advertising purposes or to improve usability. Spotify does that anyway, but it becomes relevant with regard to the new access rights.
• These new access rights include access to the photo library of your smartphone or tablet. This means that Spotify can theoretically read out all images with the associated data and, under certain circumstances, also pass them on to third parties.
• Spotify now wants to access all contacts. This can improve the social media component of Spotify, but here too the question arises whether Spotify may not pass this data on to third parties. This may even have legal consequences for the users, because without the consent of the contacts, they should not actually be passed on.
• User location is also specified by the new terms and conditions. By reading out your GPS profile, Spotify can create motion profiles that are accurate to the meter. According to Spotify, this should, among other things, be used to play music that is adapted to the running speed during random playback. Sounds interesting, but you will pay with a personal movement profile.
• Your new contractual partner is no longer Spotify GmbH, based in Berlin, but the actual company, Spotify AB, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Nevertheless, the German court order remains relevant for all legal questions, including any data protection rights.
• Most changes affect both paying users and free users. The disclosure of data for advertising purposes is probably limited to free users, as a spokesman for the company said.

Spotify Terms & Conditions - You Can Do It

Fortunately, if you go too far with these access rights, you still have a few options to restrict them somewhat.

• For example, if you contradict the new terms and conditions, the old terms and conditions remain effective for the time being. However, sooner or later this will of course no longer be possible and Spotify will no longer work.
• iOS users can also at least partially revoke unwanted access rights.
• Within the web interface, you can and should revoke your permission to pass on your data for advertising purposes. To do this, log in with your account data and then click on "Edit profile". Remove the tick from "My personal data can be passed on for marketing purposes"
• Another option would be to contradict the terms and conditions and to send Spotify a customized variant of this. However, the probability that Spotify will respond to this tends to zero.
• In the end there is only the change. You can see how to delete the account on Spotify in our video. The best alternatives to Spotify have been summarized for you. But also with the alternatives you should keep in mind that you always collect data in some way.