Is this a growing movement?
A growing number of bands and musicians have begun to pull their music from Spotify. Most of them have done so following the news that the streaming giant’s co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek’s investment firm has made major investments in the defence company Helsing. Helsing is a defence firm involved in producing military drones and artificial intelligence for battle scenarios.
One of the first to make headlines for withdrawing from Spotify was the influential indie band Deerhoof, who released a statement at the time which said: ”Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune to become chairman of AI battle tech company” was not a headline we enjoyed reading this week. We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our successes being tied to AI battle tech.”
Since then, many more have followed suit. Here are the other acts who have made public their decision to pull their music from the platform:
- David Bridie. Writing for the Guardian, Bridie said: “In recent years, we’ve witnessed the horror of AI drone wars in Ukraine and Gaza – children killed and hospitals destroyed with the press of the space bar. Ek is investing in technology that can cause suffering and death. Spotify used to seem like a necessary evil. By association, it now just seems evil.”
- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. In a statement, the band said: “A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform. Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better? Join us on another platform.”
- Leah Senior. In a post on Instagram, Senior said: “[Spotify] have always been dogs but this is the final straw. Stop funding the war machine. Support the artists you love! Hopefully music will be down asap. I encourage other artists to do the same.”
- Muddy Summers and the DFWs. In a post on Instagram, the band said: “You won’t find our albums on there anymore as we took them off due to their funding of #AImilitary Disappointing to see so many acts claiming to be #antiwar and #antigenocide still peddling on there.”
- Xiu Xiu. In an Instagram post, the band said: “We are currently working to take all of our music off of garbage hole violent armageddon portal Spotify. It is taking longer than we had hoped due to procedurally [sic] complications but will be compeleted soon. Thanks for all the support and patience. For all the reasons you already know – PLEASE CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WITH SPOTIFY.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Ronaindras – Creative Commons
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