Arabic Music Licensing Issues

[Mido7]

Hello fellow Spotify listeners and the Spotify Team,

I'm speaking on behalf of countless Arabic music fans who are constantly facing the same frustrating problem: the sudden and repetitive disappearance of massive portions of our Arabic music catalog.

We're talking about the classics and the new hits from icons like Amr Diab, Elissa, Nancy Ajram, Sherine, and many others. Time and time again, these essential tracks—which form the core of our regional music experience—are pulled down, usually due to complex and seemingly fragile licensing agreements with major distributors like Rotana.

This is more than just an inconvenience; it significantly erodes our faith in Spotify as a reliable platform for Arabic music. Why should we, as dedicated subscribers, invest our time in building playlists and sharing music when we know the songs could vanish overnight? It devalues our entire subscription.

Our Appeal to Spotify

We understand that licensing is challenging, but the constant instability is unacceptable. We need a resolution that prioritizes the listener experience in the MENA region.

1. Stop the Instability: We urge Spotify to negotiate long-term, stable agreements with major Arabic rights holders. The current cycle of "here today, gone tomorrow" must end.

2. Give Us Clarity: Please offer better communication and transparency on the status of these key catalogs and when we can expect the missing work to be reliably restored.

3. Prioritize the Restoration: Bringing back the full libraries of these foundational artists needs to be a top-level priority.

We are a massive and passionate audience. We want Spotify to be our definitive music platform, but it cannot be if our favorite artists are continuously held hostage by temporary licensing issues.

If you are an Arabic music fan affected by this, please vote/like this post and share your own experiences. Together, we can show Spotify the true scale of this problem.

Thank you.

[berry9]

i want all of elissa’s songs on spotify 

[Rafeefd]

I want Elissa back 😭

[Rafeefd]

And Haifa as well. Don't force me to switch to Apple Music 😭

[minakeriakos]

I've also written about it, and nothing happened. I wish Spotify would put more effort into its music catalogue instead of ads that make people

#ReturnArabicMusic

[Pablo_sabri]

It is not ok! We need all of rotanas music catalog! And why do us ME subscribers still not get HIFI lose-less quality audio! How long will that take too. Everything just takes so much time and although I love the interface im considering the switch heavily now.

[Joey45]

Amr diab, Elissa, etc. Most of their songs have removed, why?? we want them back.

[lamyaa]

ugh thank you !! i’ve been thinking about switching to anghami because of this, it has become f exhausting