King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard be a part of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu in pulling music from Spotify after Daniel Ek’s navy AI funding

Australian rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have change into the most recent act to withdraw their music from Spotify in protest over CEO Daniel Ek‘s funding in a protection firm targeted on AI-powered navy drones.

In a press release posted on an Instagram story, King Gizzard mentioned: “Hey buddies. A PSA to these unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests thousands and thousands in Al navy drone expertise. We simply eliminated our music from the platform. Can we put strain on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do higher? Be a part of us on one other platform.”

In a separate publish on Instagram, the band mentioned: “New demos assortment out in every single place besides Spotify (f*** Spotify). You may bootleg it when you wanna.”

King Gizzard joins a rising listing of artists to chop ties with Spotify over Ek’s funding in European protection expertise firm Helsing, based in 2021, which makes a speciality of AI protection software program but additionally makes drones like the HX2.

As MBW reported final month, Ek led a €600 million (USD $703m) collection D for Helsing, which has additionally developed the ‘Centaur’ system that “integrates superior AI pilots into the cockpits of present and future fighter plane”.

“Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests thousands and thousands in Al navy drone expertise. We simply eliminated our music from the platform. Can we put strain on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do higher?”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

The collection D spherical was led by Ek by way of his funding car Prima Materia, alongside present traders Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, Common Catalyst and SAAB and new traders BDT & MSD Companions. Helsing additionally named Ek as chairman.

In a press release following the funding, Sweden-born Ek mentioned: “As Europe quickly strengthens its protection capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there may be an pressing want for investments in superior applied sciences that guarantee its strategic autonomy and safety readiness.”

Along with King Gizzard, experimental rock band Xiu Xiu additionally introduced plans to depart Spotify over Ek’s Helsing funding. The band wrote on Instagram: “Spotify makes use of music cash to spend money on AI struggle drones.”

They added: “We’re at present working to take all of our music off of rubbish gap violent armageddon portal Spotify. It’s taking longer than we had hoped as a consequence of procedurally problems however might be accomplished quickly. Thanks for the assist and endurance. For all the explanations you already know – PLEASE CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WITH SPOTIFY.”

“Spotify makes use of music cash to spend money on AI struggle drones. We’re at present working to take all of our music off of rubbish gap violent armageddon portal Spotify.”

Xiu Xiu

San Francisco-based Indie rock band Deerhoof began the wave of exits, writing on their web site on June 30: “We don’t need our music killing individuals. We don’t need our success being tied to AI battle tech.”

“We’re privileged that it was a reasonably straightforward resolution for us. Spotify solely pays a pittance anyway, and we earn much more from touring. However we additionally perceive that different artists and labels do depend on Spotify for a much bigger chunk of their revenue, and don’t decide those that can’t make the identical transfer within the brief time period.”

They added: “Spotify is flushing itself down the bathroom. Ultimately, artists will need to depart this already extensively hated data-mining rip-off masquerading as a ‘music firm.’ It’s creepy for customers and crappy for artists. Music-making lasts perpetually, however this or that digital get-rich-quick scheme is bound to change into out of date.”

Deerhoof mentioned they “aren’t certain precisely how quickly the takedowns can occur, however it will likely be as quickly as doable.”

“We need to thank our numerous labels for his or her assist on this difficult resolution. The grunt work of pulling content material off of Spotify is one thing they’re now tasked with, and they’re sharing the monetary hit. We all know we’re asking them to make a sacrifice, and it means quite a bit to us.”

“We don’t need our music killing individuals. We don’t need our success being tied to AI battle tech… Spotify solely pays a pittance anyway, and we earn much more from touring.”

Deerhoof

Prior to those withdrawals, different artists like Joni Mitchell, Neil Younger, and Crosby, Stills & Nash have additionally determined to tug their music from Spotify lately.

Younger introduced in January 2022 that he was pulling his music from the streaming platform over its internet hosting of the Joe Rogan Expertise podcast. Nevertheless, in March 2024, Younger’s music returned to Spotify now that the podcast is not unique to the platform.

Following Younger’s return, Joni Mitchell’s music additionally reappeared on the platform two years after she eliminated her catalog from Spotify in protest of what Younger and Mitchell perceived because the platform’s amplification of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Music Enterprise Worldwide