On 4 May 2021, a global coalition of over 180 musicians and human rights organizations sent a letter to Spotify calling on the company to make a public commitment to never use, license, sell, or monetize its new speech-recognition patent technology. The coalition expressed alarm and concern that the technology, which uses emotional state, gender, age, or accent to recommend music, violates privacy and other human rights.

Spotify did not respond to the letter, so the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre contacted the company with another invitation to respond to the concerns the letter describes. Spotify did not respond to the request.