Canadian post-punk band Godspeed You! Black Emperor has pulled all its music from Spotify, joining a growing wave of artists quitting the platform
Bands like Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, King Gizzard, and musicians including David Bridie have also left Spotify in recent months, citing ethical and financial concerns
This boycott comes after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invested €600 million into AI-driven weapons tech, raising alarm among musicians opposed to war-linked technologies
Ek’s fund backed Helsing, a German defence startup building real-time AI warfare software, amid rising instability from the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts
Artists argue their music indirectly fuels weapons investments. Deerhoof said, “We don’t want our success tied to AI battle tech.” Others echoed the sentiment
Labels like Kalahari Oyster Cult said they refuse to support a platform led by someone backing “tools of war, surveillance, and violence.”
David Bridie slammed Spotify, saying artists help algorithms earn wealth for Ek, while he invests in “machines that could kill people” through drone warfare
Beyond weapons, payouts are another sore point. Spotify pays $0.003–$0.005 per stream, which many musicians call insulting, unsustainable, and exploitative of their work
This isn’t new. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Taylor Swift previously quit Spotify over misinformation and royalty disputes, showing artists’ recurring frustrations
Spotify has adjusted royalties and cracked down on fake streams, but has yet to respond to Ek’s weapons controversy, widening the rift with musicians