As soon as upon a time, Spotify was pitched because the antidote to piracy — a modern, Swedish reply to the chaos of unlicensed p2p platforms. At this time, it’s run by Daniel Ek, a billionaire who additionally co-owns a weapons firm. In the meantime, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, lengthy the poster little one of Silicon Valley innovation, now spends his days funding AI battle video games and embedding himself deeper into the U.S. protection institution and its Ukraine shopper state. As a result of that’s the place the true cash is. Someplace between the algorithm and the battlefield, music and democracy each obtained caught within the crossfire.
This isn’t science fiction. It’s the true convergence of AI, tech, surveillance, and the protection trade — and each Ek and Schmidt are on the heart of it.
Daniel Ek: From Playlists to Precision Weapons
Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO, is now a serious investor in Helsing, an AI-powered protection contractor that provides battlefield tech to NATO-aligned nations—a minimum of for the second. The corporate overtly markets itself as a “software-defined protection” agency, constructing real-time information platforms for warfare. In 2023, Helsing introduced offers with the German and French militaries and secured funding from main protection capital companies — with Ek’s backing entrance and heart.
Ek’s twin position — operating the world’s largest music streaming monopoly whereas bankrolling AI weapons programs — raises uncomfortable questions. Are you able to be a cultural gatekeeper by day and an arms seller by evening? Apparently, sure.
Eric Schmidt: From Google to the Pentagon
Eric Schmidt didn’t simply put money into AI for protection — he constructed the runway from inside Google. Now he’s competing with the very platforms he helped construct to lock down profitable Pentagon contracts. Readers will recall that Schmidt just lately sponsored AI battle video games, funds army AI conferences, and advises on battlefield automation. And he’s not doing it in a vacuum — he’s doing it shoulder-to-shoulder with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, all preventing for his or her share of protection cloud, AI, and surveillance initiatives. These are the initiatives we learn about—all of them have offers with these folks throughout the river.
What was as soon as ‘don’t be evil’ has develop into ‘don’t be disregarded.’ Schmidt’s perch inside Google gave him credibility, capital, and connections. Now he’s obtained his snout within the protection trough — and no one within the Beltway appears too involved concerning the revolving door of massive tech into large battle because the drones of August lead us into WWIII. It’s all trying fairly swampy for the supposed disruptors of yesterday.
Spotify’s Conserving Up with the Schmidts
Right here’s the twist: Perhaps Daniel Ek isn’t main this pattern — perhaps he’s simply attempting to maintain up. As New York Journal just lately reported, Meta is pivoting arduous into protection contracting. Fb is partnering with Anduril and pitching its XR (blended actuality) platforms to the Pentagon. Google and Amazon are already knee-deep in cloud and AI protection initiatives. Microsoft has a protracted observe report of army collaboration.
Seen this fashion, Ek’s transfer into protection isn’t a wierd detour — it’s the brand new Silicon Valley norm. If you would like a seat on the energy desk in tech, you want authorities cash, army contracts, and nationwide safety credibility. In that context, Helsing isn’t a pastime — it’s a credential.
However artists aren’t Amazon. Followers aren’t cloud infrastructure. Spotify’s customers didn’t signal as much as fund surveillance programs or battlefield AI. Ek might imagine he’s simply modernizing. However what he’s doing is popping music into metadata for battle.
What If a File Label CEO Did This?
Let’s flip the script: What if the CEO of a serious report label — say, Common or Warner — introduced they had been funding battlefield AI or investing in a missile steering startup? The artist explosion can be primordial.
There can be: Boycotts. Press statements. Artist-led protests. Full-page advertisements in Billboard and Rolling Stone. Public calls to sever ties, pull masters, and demand accountability.
And but when the top of Spotify — the world’s most dominant digital distributor — does it, the outrage is curiously muted. Why? Is it as a result of artists don’t absolutely notice what’s occurring? Or as a result of the Spotify algorithm is simply too deeply embedded within the present economic system of consideration?
If Daniel Ek ran a label as a substitute of a platform, this may be a front-page scandal.
Deerhoof Unplugs
In keeping with Pitchfork:
In response, some artists are strolling away. Indie rock band Deerhoof just lately introduced they’re pulling their catalog from Spotify, citing ethical and financial causes. As Paste Journal reported, the band stated:
Indie-rock stalwarts Deerhoof shall be eradicating their music from Spotify. “‘Daniel Ek makes use of $700 million of his Spotify fortune to develop into chairman of AI battle tech firm’ was not a headline we loved studying this week,” the band wrote in a press release shared on-line. “We don’t need our music killing folks. We don’t need our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
That’s not hyperbole. It’s a exact prognosis of the system artists are being requested to feed — one the place streaming micro pennies bankroll a market capitalization that funds AI surveillance and weapons platforms. The choice to strike Spotify is definitely fairly simple for many artists since they make nearly nothing from the platform or perhaps even lower than zero if they’re within the stream share threshold. However labels and perhaps even publishers aren’t going to steer the cost given how dependent they’re on streaming.
Time to Ask Tougher Questions
The issue isn’t simply that artists are underpaid — it’s that the very infrastructure of Spotify’s and Google’s digital tradition is now entangled with international militarism. We’ve gone from ‘disrupting the report trade’ to subsidizing protection contractors.
Artists, listeners, and lawmakers should confront a brand new actuality: Platforms like Spotify and corporations like Schmidt Futures aren’t simply constructing tech — they’re constructing the way forward for battle.
In the event you don’t need your subsequent stream to assist fund battlefield AI, perhaps it’s time to rethink who’s behind the scenes.
