Key Point from this Blog Post:

  • Spotify has always struggled to prevent explicit and inappropriate content from being readily available on the service, even in playlists and recommendations.

  • It therefore means that there will be an even greater need for the need of content moderation and filtering, in general, for music streaming services.

  • Parents need to be quite keen in observing the listening behavior of their children and then take practical measures through the use of parental control applications like Pinardin.

  • It requires accountability from the platform for the situation at hand and active parental involvement to make online environments safer for kids.

Spotify and Pornographic Content: What Parents Should Know by Hannah Reneau, MA

Spotify, one of the largest music streaming services in the world, has increasingly come under fire for hosting explicit content, including pornographic material. The revelation is alarming to parents, considering that Spotify—along with competing online music platforms like YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and Pandora—is broadly utilized by children. With the vast amount of time children dedicate to these services, parents must understand the associated dangers.

In this article, we are going to talk about the harmful content on popular music streaming and how kids can easily find it. We are also going to center our attention on specific dangers Spotify is posing and how parents can take measures to protect their kids.

How Does Pornographic Content End Up on Music Apps?

You may ask yourself, how does it happen at all that a music app hosts pornographic material? Well, there are a few unfortunate ways:

  • Explicit album artwork: Many albums feature explicit sexual images that are easily accessible.
  • Sexual sounds and noises: Some of the audio files feature insinuating or even frank sexual sounds.
  • Erotic podcasts: Almost all platforms and Spotify, too, do not ban podcasts that feature adult content, for example, erotic stories or frank discussions about sex. These songs pop up when a user searches for basic punctuation, such as a period or comma. In other words, kids do not even have to be actively searching for inappropriate material; they can come upon it unintentionally.

How Parents Can Protect Their Kids

As part of the effort to protect kids from explicit content on music streaming, parents should:

  • Use parental control tools, such as Pinardin, meant for filtering and monitoring inappropriate content.
  • Watch the history of searches and playlist activity in terms of what kind of music and podcasts your children are accessing.
  • Provide various methods for open conversation about the content your children may encounter, and why caution should be taken. The way out of this problem lies with a blend of responsibility from the platforms and vigilance on the part of the parents. As much as streaming services have work to do on their content curation, parents are very instrumental in shaping the kind of digital experience their children should undergo.

Which Music Apps Contain Pornographic Material?

You can find explicit content on just about every popular music streaming app. After scouring these music streaming services, the Pinardin team was able to verify explicit content is available on:

  • Spotify
  • Apple Music
  • Amazon Music Unlimited
  • YouTube Music
  • iHeart Radio
  • Pandora
  • TIDAL
  • Freegal Music

Is It Possible to Block Pornographic Material on Music Streaming Apps?

Yes, but it isn’t ideal. While all of these music streaming services provide explicit content filters, there are a couple of problems parents should know about:

1. Playback is blocked, but search results will still appear. Even while using the content filters on, your child can still be exposed to explicit content in search results. While the system will block such explicit tracks from playing, the inappropriate material within their searches, including explicit album covers, remains present. This incomplete filtering can still expose kids to graphic images or suggestive titles.

2. No Protection with Passcode Besides, the explicit content filters do not sport passcode protection on platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, YouTube Music, and iHeart Radio. That would allow your kids to turn such filters off if they know how lacking security makes it hard for parents to keep filters across services on consistently.

3. Inaccurate and Inconsistent Labeling Although Apple Music, Pandora, and TIDAL do offer explicit content filters that are passcode-protected, those filters are imperfect. Our research identified numerous examples in which songs and podcast episodes containing objectionable material failed to bear the “E” (for explicit) tag. This meant that even with the filters turned on, these tracks slipped through the system and were able to reach young listeners.

It’s not just Porn; there are predators.

As noted above, Spotify’s porn problem is enough to raise serious concerns simply due to its high popularity. Unfortunately, that is not all there is to it. Reports emanating from the UK indicate a girl, just 11, was groomed into posting sexually explicit photos of herself, all of it taking place through interactive features on Spotify playlists.

Predators can start grooming a child by making up a playlist and then will ask kids to respond by adding songs to the playlist that describe messages. In this girl’s case in the UK, she was asked to upload a sexually explicit photo of herself as the custom photo on the playlist. Additionally, he requested her email address where he continued to request inappropriate images from her.

What Can Parents Do?

It is understandable that, with all the risks even music apps may carry, parents feel overwhelmed or frustrated. A good first step would be a frank, open discussion with your child about these risks if you have not done so already. Instead of disallowing their music apps, active involvement in their online activities should help you raise whatever red flags there might be well in advance.