Young Widows have removed all their music from the streaming service, Spotify. They join an expanding list of artists protesting Spotify since their CEO, Daniel EK, has made controversial investments in AI-powered military technology. According to Metal Injection, Ek had a hand in leading a $693.6 million funding round for Helsing. Helsing is a company that works to develop AI for warfare. So expectedly, this made a lot of artists upset, including Young Widows, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Hotline TNT and Xiu Xiu. 

About the removal of their music, the band put out the following statement, as shared by Metal Injection, “We’ve decided to remove our discography from Spotify. The disgusting news of their CEO Daniel Elk investing profits in Helsing to create AI warfare is a breaking point. We do not support genocide. We do not support war of any kind. To think that our fans money is being used to invest in future machines to kill the innocent is beyond inhumane and unacceptable. We do understand that there is truly no just capitalism and every large company in existence has either direct ties or personnel within that are funding means to control, exploit and manipulate the people. We are more than aware that every streaming platform has its flaws and until people value artists enough to realize streaming has an overall negative impact on music, we will continue to use the other platforms currently available. We do not apologize for the inconvenience. Just as alarming as funding war from art is Spotify’s use of AI to ‘create’ music/bands, even making new albums from deceased artists. Not only does this diminish artists and degrades their legacy, but it makes something that is so inspirational, soulless and empty. We are also more than aware that AI is not going anywhere anytime soon, but it’s a tool that should be used to help humanity, not take joy from us.”

They finish their statement by saying, “Furthermore, we feel that all platforms using numbers, likes, plays, etc… do a large disservice to artists’ in general. People who pour themselves into their music should not be subjected to a numbers game. Our art is not a competition. Consider the shear amount of time it takes to make a record only to have it whittled down to how many plays it receives. We feel extremely fortunate to have any support outside of our own personal creative achievements. We appreciate that support but can assure you what WE create is purely for our own personal outlets. As a band we will continue to do what we do until we’re physically unable. So we implore you, if you truly value an artist, buy their records, go to their shows, support them directly.”

In addition to the artists and groups spoken about earlier, Lisa Bregneager, Cindy Lee and Deerhoof have also joined those removing their discographies off of Spotify. In addition to funding military AI, Spotify has also received backlash for hosting AI music on their service. For example, AI “band” The Velvet Sundown was able to amass thousands of streams via Spotify. If you’re considering of making the switch to a new streaming service, after Ek’s investment in AI and Spotify hosting AI music, Apple Music has introduced a feature that allows users to transfer their Spotify playlists to Apple Music.