Spotify is removing songs by pro-Putin, pro-Russian artists

According to the Moscow Times (an anti-Putin publication), Spotify has removed music from a number of pro-war Russian artists, some 28 months after the invasion of Ukraine and a couple of years after Spotify shut down its Russian offices.

The artists include Lyube (a band under EU sanctions) and singers Grigory Leps, Oleg Gazmanov, Shaman, and Polina Gagarina (also under EU sanctions). There are others, too.

Spotify says “Platform Rules clearly state that we take action when we identify content which explicitly violates our content policies or local laws. Upon review, these artists met the threshold for removal.”

That’s pretty vague and Spotify didn’t offer any more detail, there is a line in the rules that covers “content that does not comply with applicable sanctions and export regulations” and “content that is intended to promote or commit an illegal act of any kind.”

These same artists are still available on Apple Music and YouTube.