Tensions between Spotify and the government in Turkey seem to have been overcome, for now at least, following a meeting between Turkish ministers and the streaming service earlier this week. There was speculation last month that those tensions might result in Spotify bailing on the Turkish market entirely. But not now. And all it took was a commitment to open an office in Istanbul.
Writing on social media, Turkish Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy revealed he had a meeting earlier this week with Spotify, which he dubbed “one of the pioneers of the global music industry”. That session, he said, had resulted in “significant steps” being agreed “to ensure our country’s music ecosystem receives the support it deserves” from the streaming service.
“A significant gap is being addressed”, he added, before revealing that streaming service will open an office in Istanbul next year, which will “further deepen collaborations in this field”.
Last month Turkey’s competition regulator announced it was investigating allegations of anti-competitive conduct that had been made against Spotify. In the same week, one of Ersoy’s deputies, Batuhan Mumcu, hit out at Spotify’s content moderation policies.
He said the streaming service “persistently refuses to take the necessary steps” to deal with “content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society”, despite lots of “previous warnings”. He seemed to be particularly aggrieved with user-created playlists that had titles that were either religiously insensitive or which mocked the wife of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Mumcu reposted Ersoy’s Spotify update on X this week, so is seemingly also placated by the company’s new commitments. Following his original criticism of Spotify, and the announcement of the competition regulator inquiry, a report in The Times said the streaming service was reviewing its options, with pausing the company’s operations in Turkey or pulling out of the market entirely on the list of possible options.
Elsewhere in his statement this week, Ersoy said his department would be discussing how to “take joint steps” with Spotify and music industry representatives to promote Turkish artists and music. “This strong collaboration”, he said, “will bring new momentum to our cultural diplomacy”.