Spotify decided to rethink asking users to spam Twitter on its behalf

Music is inherently social, but fans don’t like to be told what to do. This past weekend, Spotify released a new feature called ‘Tweet the Beat’ to randomly prompt users via a pop-up to thank Rihanna for her new single via Twitter. But it seems that backlash, including publications calling it ‘spam,’ has made the service rethink this feature. In its initial launch on Saturday, both free and premium Spotify users were randomly prompted with a pop-up to thank Rihanna for her “Bitch Better Have My Money” single via a pre-written tweet to send to their Twitter account. The editable tweet also included a Spotify link to the track. The Verge spoke to a representative at Spotify on Monday, who confirmed that the ‘Tweet the Beat’ program began with just Rihanna. “What you’re seeing is a new feature called Tweet the Beat which lets listeners express love and appreciation towards the artists they follow or listen to often, and has been designed as a great way for fans to get closer to their favorite artists.”