Just hours after another bout of high profile criticism via Rolling Stone Magazine for their controversial payment structure for artists who comprise their streaming platform, Spotify have announced a new huge promotion in conjunction with Google. As of today—April 9th, 2019—Spotify is offering a free Google Home Mini to every registered premium user in Canada.

While the campaign is to shamelessly entice and drum up more $9.99/month customers, current Spotify premium users are also eligible to claim one of the Google toys. Shipping on these $80CAD devices is free anywhere in Canada.

New users can register and claim the incentive here, while existing users can scroll to the “Already have Premium for $9.99 CAD?” prompt at the bottom of the page to capitalize on the offer. Registered accounts for Premium for Students, Premium for Family, or Premium with PlayStation Music, are not eligible.

Since the launch of the streaming platform in 2008, Spotify has received a fair share of controversy. So much so, that “Criticism of Spotify” has garnered its own Wikipedia page. Notable artists have been at the helm of the fight such as Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift, while many independent artists have cried out in the name of what has been called unfair compensation for streaming royalties.

“Unlike physical sales or legal downloads, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on their “market share”—the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service,” reads the Wikipedia entry on “Allegations of unfair artist compensation“. “Spotify distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their individual agreement.”

Rolling Stone reported this week that “in 2018, artists and record labels were paid 1.1% less of the total money handed over by US consumers to music “retailers” – a sector now dominated by streaming services – than in 2016”.

“That percentage stat might not sound hugely noteworthy, but think on this: 1.1% of the total music retail revenues in the US last year ($9.8 billion) equates to $108 million.”

Spotify isn’t the only side of this promotion to receive its fair share of scrutiny, as the Google Home—and other “smart home” devices—have received continued criticism for perceived privacy risks.

For many, the convenience for the Spotify and Google products may trump the controversies for consumers. If you already pay the monthly $9.99 for Spotify premium and would like to invite Google into your home via their mini smart speakers, you can do so here.