Spotify says it’s cooperating with Turkey’s competition bureau in a probe into whether the streaming giant engaged in anti-competitive practices.
The competition bureau announced the probe the same day that a cabinet minister criticized Spotify on social media for what he described as content that disregards the country’s religious sensitivities and attacks Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife.
In a statement issued on Friday (July 4), the competition authority said it would examine whether Spotify had violated Turkish law “by engaging in practices that complicate the operations of its rivals in the online music streaming services market and/or affect the distribution of the royalties paid to various parties within the framework of its licensing relationships.”
It also said Spotify may be “discriminating between artists and content creators on the platform in various ways, including their visibility on the platform.”
The same day, Batuhan Mumcu, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism, launched a broadside against the streaming platform on X, accusing it of hosting “content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society.”
Mumcu said that “Spotify insists on not taking the necessary steps despite all the warnings we have made before” regarding content, and that “the discrimination and rights violations against our artists have been ignored.”
He specifically called out “insidious and provocative, immoral content that targets our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s precious wife Emine Erdoğan,” which he said is “incompatible with the cultural and moral values of our nation, and targets the unity and solidarity of our society.”
Mumcu’s X post included an embedded video showing searches on Spotify that brought up playlist titles like “Songs Prophet Muhammad listened to in the cave,” “Emine Ergodan hotgirl playlist,” and “Songs Emine Erdogan listened to when her golden faucet broke,” in apparent reference to claims that the Erdogans have gold-plated bathroom fixtures in the presidential palace.
“This irresponsibility and lack of control, which ignores the sensitivities of our society, has now become a legal issue,” Mumcu wrote. “For this reason, I personally think that a judicial process should be initiated and I call on our authorized institutions to take action.”
“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.”
Spotify
In a statement to MBW, a Spotify spokesperson said the Sweden-headquartered streaming platform is aware of the actions taken by the competition bureau.
“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. We comply with all applicable laws in all our operations, but we are unable to comment further as we lack details on the inspection’s scope or focus.”
The spokesperson said Spotify had paid out more than 2 billion Turkish lira to local artists in 2024, which equates to USD $60.9 million at the average exchange rate for that year.
Spotify entered the Turkish market in 2013, and in a recent Loud & Clear report on the country, the platform highlighted the rapidly increasing popularity of local artists.
The share of streams by local artists in Turkey rose from 11% in 2013 to 65% in 2025, while the number of Turkish artists in Spotify’s yearly top 100 grew from 11 in 2013 to 93 in 2024, Spotify said.Music Business Worldwide
