Why High-Profile Musicians Are Starting to Boycott Spotify
A growing number of musicians are beginning to pull their catalogues from the world's most popular streaming service, Spotify, following revelations that its CEO, Daniel Ek, had led a billion-dollar investment into German military technology company Helsing.
Massive Attack is one such band to directly criticise the CEO before removing their music from the site.
In an Instagram post, the band said: "In light of the (reported) significant investments by its CEO in a company producing military munition drones and AI technology integrated into fighter aircraft, Massive Attack have made a request to our label that our music be removed from the Spotify Streaming service in all territories.
"In our view the historic precedent of effective artist action during apartheid South Africa, and the apartheid, war crimes and genocide now being committed by the state of Israel renders the 'No Music For Genocide' campaign imperative."
The band joins notable acts King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and many more in abandoning the platform entirely.
It isn't just large acts that are boycotting Spotify, though. Several smaller, more grassroots artists are doing the same.
Speaking to RNZ, singer Fenn Wilson suggested that while the protests of smaller acts make less of an impact on companies like Spotify, the boycott could gather momentum until the business is unable to ignore it.
"As individual, small artists, it's hard to strike a massive blow to a company like Spotify," he explains. "But I think that if a bunch of us are able to get themselves off, then they start to sweat a little."
Spotify's investment in military technology
This latest controversy centres on Ek's alleged investments in Helsing, a company which specialises in developing AI systems for military applications.
Speaking about the funding round for the military company, the Spotify CEO said: “Helsing is uniquely positioned with its AI leadership to deliver these critical capabilities in all-domain defence innovation."
Dr Sophie Freeman, a University of Melbourne researcher studying music streaming, suggests that broader frustrations surrounding the streaming platform are starting to converge, with this being a final straw moment.
"We're at a bit of a tipping point right now," she explains. "People are definitely making the switch due to the news that Daniel Ek is investing in AI battle tech. But this has been going on for a long time."
Some users are also cancelling their subscriptions, with premium subscriber Hiro explaining his decision to RNZ through an economic lens.
He asks: "If I don't want to buy a canned beverage because its parent company invests a lot in Israel, why am I paying like US$11, US$15 so that the CEO can invest that money I paid to a weapons company?"
Streaming economics fuel discontent
Longstanding tensions over Spotify's royalty structure have also resurfaced in recent discourse around the Swedish tech firm.
Single streams generate as little as US$0.004 in royalties, with tracks requiring more than 1,000 streams before earning any revenue whatsoever. For most artists, large or small, this deal has felt particularly unfair for a long time now.
"The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral and ethical burden whereby the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies," says Massive Attack's recent statement.
"Enough is more than enough," the band adds. "Another way is possible."
AI music concerns compound boycott
The controversy extends beyond military investments to AI in music creation.
Recent incidents involving AI-generated bands like The Velvet Sundown, which attracted over 330,000 monthly listeners without disclosure, have heightened concerns about algorithmic deception.
"The DSP [digital service provider] models today compensate artists and songwriters based on their share of monthly playcounts," says Elizabeth Moody, Partner & Chair of the New Media Practice at Granderson Des Rochers.
"This sometimes incentivises bad actors who may choose to work with streaming promotion services or other fraudulent means to boost stream counts," she adds.
Many experts like Elizabeth believe that it is incumbent on streaming services like Spotify to improve the governance and the ethics of their platforms. Clearly, a lack of governance is already backfiring on the firm, with many more artist exits likely in the near future.
With regards to the encroachment of AI, Elizabeth believes that Spotify needs to step up, and fast.
"Some fear that the ease of creation of AI music will mean that fraud will become more prevalent.
"There are means of preventing this activity, through monitoring and business model adjustments, but they will take time and commitments on behalf of DSPs and rightsholders."
