King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has removed their entire catalog from Spotify, including all 27 studio albums, live recordings, and compilations. This decision stems from concerns regarding Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s investments in AI military drone technology, particularly with his investment firm, Prima Materia, which recently raised over $600 million for the European defense company Helsing. The band shared their stance in an Instagram post, urging fans to join them on other platforms and challenging tech leaders to be more responsible with their investments.
In their announcement, King Gizzard also noted the release of a demo collection, emphasizing, “out everywhere except Spotify (f*** Spotify). You can bootleg it if you wanna.” This move follows a trend among artists protesting Spotify’s financial practices and its use of music revenue to fund militaristic technologies.
Recent weeks have seen a wave of similar departures from Spotify. Experimental rock band Xiu Xiu and the group Deerhoof have also chosen to withdraw their music, voicing their dissatisfaction with Spotify’s practices. Xiu Xiu highlighted the ethical concerns around the streaming service’s profits being funneled into military applications, which they described as “almost beyond comprehension.”
This pattern of artists leaving Spotify due to ideological differences has historical precedence; Neil Young’s removal of his music in 2022, in protest of the platform’s association with COVID misinformation through its partnership with podcaster Joe Rogan, garnered significant media attention.
As more artists take a stand against the practices of major streaming platforms, it raises questions about the future of music distribution and the values that artists want to champion. The recently articulated concerns may very well encourage a larger dialogue about the role of streaming services in the music industry and their impact on artistic integrity.