The streaming giant could halt its services in Türkiye after the government begain probing its business practices and playlisting.
Spotify is reportedly weighing up a potential exit from Türkiye as pressure mounts from both cultural and legal fronts. The Times (UK) reports that the streaming giant is considering “pausing its operations in the market or exiting Türkiye altogether” following criticism over certain playlists and a new antitrust investigation.
Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism, Batuhan Mumcu, has accused Spotify of failing to respect national values. On X, he criticised playlists with titles such as “Emine Erdogan hotgirl playlist” and “Songs Prophet Muhammad listened to in the cave,” saying they “target our religious and national values and insult the beliefs of our society.”
The controversy goes beyond playlist names. Mumcu also accused Spotify of neglecting Türkiye’s music heritage. He said: “Despite international digital platforms like Spotify having a significant user base in the Turkish market, they have neither established a local representation nor taken responsibility for supporting local music culture.” He also criticised Spotify’s content algorithms for promoting “slang, violence, and the use of prohibited substances,” calling it “an unacceptable choice.”
Alongside these cultural tensions, the Turkish Competition Authority launched a formal investigation into Spotify on July 4th. Officials are looking into whether the platform has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour. According to the announcement, the probe will assess whether Spotify has “complicated the operations of its rivals” and affected “the distribution of the royalties paid to various parties.” There are also concerns that the platform may be “discriminating between artists and content creators… including their visibility on the platform.”
Spotify’s response to these comments and the investigation was that of co-operation. The platform told Music Business Worldwide, “We are cooperating with the investigation, are actively seeking to understand it, and will work toward a swift, constructive resolution with the Turkish Competition Authority.”
With growing political and regulatory pressure, Spotify’s future in Türkiye is uncertain. The platform has seen significant local growth since launching in 2013 – with Turkish artists now making up 65% of all streams in the country, up from just 11% in its first year. In 2024 alone, 93 Turkish artists featured in Spotify’s annual Top 100. A full exit would surely not only disrupt millions of listeners but could also have a major impact on the country’s artists and digital music industry.