Deerhoof pulls music from Spotify after AI military investment
Alternative group Deerhoof have pulled their entire catalogue from Spotify after the CEO invested a huge sum of money into artificial intelligence military software.
It was announced in June that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek led a €600 million investment into Helsing, an AI military start-up producing drones, aircraft and submarines. The company is also developing a new “Centaur” system to integrate “advanced AI pilots” into the cockpits of fighter aircraft. This investment has led to Ek being named chairman of the company.
Deerhoof announced the move in a statement on social media, which ruminated on the state of the industry at large. After stating that “it was a pretty easy decision” for the band, though they “don’t judge those who can’t make the same move” due to economic reasons, the band wrote, “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 statement later slammed Spotify, stating, “Spotify is flushing itself down the toilet. Eventually artists will want to leave this already widely hated data-mining scam masquerading as a “music company.” It’s creepy for users and crappy for artists. Music-making lasts forever but this or that digital get-rich-quick scheme is sure to become obsolete.”
Many others have followed in their footsteps. The Amsterdam-based label Kalahari Oyster Cult has removed all releases on the streaming platform, including music from Spray, Maara, Flora FM and Fantastic Man.
The Dutch imprint admitted the decision was “long overdue,” continuing in a statement: “As a label, and in consultation with the artists we represent, we don’t want our music contributing to or benefiting a platform led by someone backing tools of war, surveillance, and violence. Keeping our work on Spotify would mean going against everything we stand for.”
Far Out gave Deerhoof’s 2024 album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, four-and-a-half stars, writing, “The album is a mechanical opera of nightmares and dreams, of phantasmagoric allegories and atonal symphonies. It’s a mess. It’s a sham. It’s a racket. It’s a riot. It’s chaos captured on tape. It’s confounding and expanding and expounding, and it’s an explosion. It’s an implosion. It’s overwhelming. It’s utterly brilliant and, at times, it’s utterly horrible, too. “
Due to the negative economic impact their removal from Spotify engenders, Deerhoof have announced a corporate partnership with Doordash. Announcing the new move, the band wrote, “We believe in their profit-driven values and “screw-the-worker” vision, as they do ours.”
“We’re honored to be able to soften the blow of quitting Spotify by announcing our upcoming corporate partnership with @doordash. We’ve searched high and low for just the right multinational conglomerate to shepherd us through today’s threats to centrism, and provide particles of food every one of which is like a piece of gold. We believe in their profit-driven values and “screw-the-worker” vision, as they do ours.”
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