Over the summer time, a rising group of artists started pulling their catalogs from Spotify—not over depressing and Dickensian-level royalties alone, however over Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s huge funding in Helsing, a European weapons firm. Helsing builds AI-enabled offensive weapons programs that skirt worldwide human rights regulation, particularly Article 36 of the Geneva Conventions. Deerhoof helped kick off the present wave; different artists (together with Xiu Xiu, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Hotline TNT, The Mynabirds, WU LYF, Kadhja Bonet, and Younger Widows) have adopted or introduced plans to take action.
What’s Helsing—and what does it construct?
Helsing is a Munich-based defense-tech agency based in 2021. It started with AI software program for notion, decision-support, and digital warfare, and has expanded into {hardware}. The corporate markets the HX‑2 “AI strike drone,” described as a software program‑outlined loitering munition meant to have interaction artillery and armored targets at important vary—and kill individuals. It emphasizes resilience to digital warfare, swarm/networked ways through its Altra recon‑strike platform, and a human in/on the loop for vital selections, and that restricted function for people in killing different people is the place it runs into Geneva Conference points. Belief me, they know this.
Past drones, Helsing gives AI digital‑warfare upgrades for Germany’s Eurofighter EK (with Saab), and has been contracted to provide AI software program for Europe’s Future Fight Air System (FCAS). Public briefings and reporting point out an energetic function supporting Ukraine since 2022, and a rising UK footprint linked to protection modernization initiatives. In 2025, Ek’s funding agency led a significant funding spherical that valued Helsing within the multibillion‑euro vary alongside contracts within the UK, Germany, and Sweden.
So let’s be clear—Helsing will not be making some tremendous tourniquet or AI medical system that has a twin use in civilian and navy purposes. That is Masters of Warfare stuff. Which, for Mr. Ek’s profit, is a music.
Why artists care
For these artists, the difficulty isn’t summary: they see a direct line between Spotify‑generated wealth and AI‑enabled lethality, particularly as Helsing strikes from software program into weaponized autonomy at scale. That moral battle is why exit statements explicitly join Dickensian streaming economics and streamshare thresholds to navy funding decisions. The truth is, it stays to be seen whether or not Spotify itself is utilizing its AI merchandise and the tech and information behind them for Helsing’s weapons purposes.
What number of artists have left?
There’s no official tally. Reporting describes a wave of exits and names particular acts. The listing continues to evolve as extra artists reassess their positions.
The monetary influence—on Spotify vs. on artists
For Spotify, a handful of indie exits barely strikes the needle. The reason being the professional‑rata or “streamshare” payout mannequin: every rightsholder’s share is proportional to complete streams, not a hard and fast per‑stream fee besides should you’re “fortunate” sufficient to get a “larger of” formulation. Take away a small catalog and its share merely reallocates to others. For artists, leaving may be significant—some substitute streams with direct gross sales (Bandcamp, vinyl, fan campaigns) and infrequently report greater income per fan. However at platform scale, the macro‑economics barely budge.
In fact due to Spotify’s tying relationships with expertise patrons for venues (express or implicit) not being on Spotify may be the kiss of dying for a brand new artist competing for a Wednesday evening at an area venue when the venue checks your Spotify stats.
Why this can be a cautionary story for AI labs
Two practices make artist exits really feel symbolically loud however structurally quiet—and so they’re precisely what frontier AI ought to keep away from:
1) Income‑share swimming pools with opaque guidelines. Professional‑rata “streamshare” pushes smaller gamers towards zero; any exit simply enriches whoever stays. AI platforms considering rev‑share coaching or retrieval offers ought to study from this: person‑centric or utilization‑metered offers with clear accounting are extra legible than large, shifting swimming pools.
2) NDA‑sealed phrases. The streaming period normalized NDAs that bury charges and situations. If AI offers copy that playbook—confidential blacklists, secret model‑immediate charges, unpublished audit rights—contributors will see protest as the one lever. Transparency beats backlash.
3) Weapons Associated Use Circumstances for AI. Everyone knows that the frontier labs like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others are all additionally competing like skilled seals for contracts from the Division of Warfare. They use the identical expertise skilled on tradition ripped off from artists to kill individuals for cash.
A clearer image of Helsing’s merchandise and clients
• HX‑2 AI Strike Drone: past‑line‑of‑sight strike profile, on‑board goal re‑identification, EW‑resilient, swarm‑succesful through Altra; a number of payload choices; human in/on the loop.
• Eurofighter EK (Germany): with Saab, AI‑enabled digital‑warfare improve for Luftwaffe Eurofighters oriented to SEAD/DEAD roles.
• FCAS AI Spine (Europe): software program/AI layer for the subsequent‑technology air fight system beneath European procurement.
• UK footprint: framework contracting within the UK protection ecosystem, tied to strike/focusing on modernization efforts.
• Ukraine: public reporting signifies supply of strike drones; firm statements reference exercise supporting Ukraine since 2022.
The larger cultural level
Whether or not you applaud or oppose conflict tech, the moral by way of‑line in these protests is constant: creators don’t need their work—or the wealth it generates—financing AI (particularly autonomous) weaponry. As a result of the platform’s professional‑rata economics make particular person exits financially quiet, the battle migrates into public signaling and model stress.
What would a greater mannequin appear like for AI?
• Choose‑in, auditable offers for inventive inputs to AI fashions (coaching and RAG) with clear unit economics and printed baseline phrases.
• Person‑centric or utilization‑metered payouts (by contributor, by mannequin, by retrieval) as an alternative of a single, shifting income pool.
• Public registries and audit logs so individuals can confirm the place cash comes from and the place it goes.
• No gag clauses on baseline charges or audit rights.
The strike in opposition to Spotify is about values as a lot as worth. Ek’s wager on Helsing—drones, digital warfare, autonomous weapons—makes these values unimaginable for some artists to disregard. Because of the professional‑rata royalty machine, the exits received’t dent Spotify’s backside line—however they need to warn AI platforms in opposition to repeating the identical opaque rev‑shares and NDAs that depart creators feeling unvoiced in streaming.
[This post first appeared on ArtistRights Watch]
