Deerhoof have announced that their entire catalog will be removed from Spotify. “‘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,” the band said in a statement. “We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
In addition to being the CEO of Spotify, Ek is also a chairman of Helsing, a German defense tech company that’s been developing software that uses AI to inform military decisions. Deerhoof added:
We are privileged that it was a pretty easy decision for us. Spotify only pays a pittance anyway, and we earn a lot more from touring. But we also understand that other artists and labels do rely on Spotify for a bigger chunk of their income, and don’t judge those who can’t make the same move in the short term.
AI battle tech is clearly emerging as the hot new big ticket item for the super-rich. It’s increasingly clear that the military and police exist primarily as the security detail for the billionaire class. The more of the killing you can get computers to do, the better your bottom line.
The band also criticized the platform’s music discovery aspect, data practices, and royalty system, writing: “One of the claims often made about Spotify is that it theoretically makes one’s music discoverable by anyone who signs up, no matter how remote they may be from the self-proclaimed centers of hipness. But just because someone is far from Western gatekeepers does not mean they lack culture, or need to hear our band. Deerhoof is a small mom and pop operation, and know when enough is enough. We aren’t capitalists, and don’t wish to take over the world. Especially if the price of ‘discoverability’ is letting oligarchs fill the globe with computerized weaponry, we’re going to pass on the supposed benefits.”
Deerhoof, who most recently released Noble and Godlike in Ruin, noted their music won’t immediately disappear from Spotify. “We aren’t sure exactly how soon the takedowns can happen, but it will be as soon as possible. We want to thank our various labels for their support on this tricky decision. The grunt work of pulling content off of Spotify is something they’re now tasked with, and they are sharing the financial hit. We know we are asking them to make a sacrifice, and it means a lot to us.”
Revisit our 2023 interview with Deerhoof.
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