Spotify suspends premium subscriptions in Russia in support of Ukraine

Spotify has suspended premium accounts in Russia in light of the war in Ukraine. The decision was made by the company a week after it closed its office in Moscow.

The streaming platform’s CFO Paul Vogel spoke at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference two days ago (March 10), according to Variety, and noted that this move will result in the loss of roughly 1.5 million premium account subscribers in the first quarter of this year. A spokesperson on behalf of the company added that Russian business doesn’t make up a significant amount of their total revenue, coming in at less than 1 percent.

Before Spotify decided to suspend its premium memberships in Russia, Vogel confirmed that the company was pacing ahead of its first quarter expectations, and had accumulated 3 million new paying subscribers to its platform.

Ultimately, the service will no longer accept paid subscriptions or ads in Russia, however, they’re not completely halting their service within Russia in order to “to allow for the global flow of information.” Spotify has its own news hub called For the Record, and directs listeners to many different sources regarding world events including COVID-19 and more.

Many major American and European corporations are suspending business with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, Business Insider reports that in addition to Spotify, Ikea, Disney, Warner Bros., ExxonMobil, General Motors, Apple, BP, Visa, PayPal, Netflix, TikTok, Airbnb and many other food and fashion companies have also halted their negotiations with the country.

A plethora of bands and musicians have recently canceled or postponed performances in Russia in protest of the war as well.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine initially began Thursday, Feb. 24. The New York Times reported yesterday that the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol, Mykolaiv and the capital city of Kyiv are currently facing the most conflict.