Indie rock outfit Xiu Xiu have introduced they’re eradicating their music from Spotify, citing CEO Daniel Ek’s “investments in AI conflict drones” as the ultimate straw. The band now joins a small however rising listing of artists slicing ties with the streaming big in protest.
In an announcement on Instagram, the group writes: “We’re at the moment 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 procedural issues however will probably be accomplished quickly. Thanks for the help and endurance.”
Earlier this yr, Ek led a €600 million spherical of funding in Helsing, a German defence-tech firm that develops AI software program to reinforce navy weapons programs and different gear. His involvement with Helsing has confronted heavy criticism from artists and listeners alike, particularly given Spotify’s long-standing pressure with musicians over royalty payouts.
Increasing on the band’s determination in a brand new interview with Anthony Fantano, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart says: “We’ve wished to for a very long time. I imply, I’ve by no means been a fan of streaming. It devalues music usually. It makes music disposable.”
Stewart provides that their prior efforts to go away the platform stalled when “nobody [their labels] actually wished to do it,” however Helsing was the road they might not cross.
“The rationale for us on the time was simply, we thought that they handled bands badly. However when the announcement got here that Spotify head Daniel Ek was utilizing Spotify funds to instantly spend money on AI conflict homicide drones… There was simply no conceivable approach that we could possibly be concerned in one thing like that.”
And although Stewart acknowledges that Xiu Xiu “being off of Spotify shouldn’t be going to make any actual monetary influence for them”, he says that “it actually has extra to do with our conscience”.
“Hopefully for the small variety of folks inquisitive about Xiu Xiu, probably it encourages them simply to concentrate on this difficulty and to not, in some small approach, fund the homicide of what’s going to undoubtedly be brown folks everywhere in the world so a small variety of white billionaires could make some extra money.”
Xiu Xiu’s determination follows an analogous transfer by art-rock outfit Deerhoof earlier this month, who wrote, “We don’t need our music killing folks,” as they introduced plans to drag their catalogue from Spotify.
Study extra about Xiu Xiu through their official web site.
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