Deerhoof has decided to pull their songs off Spotify.
Seeing the headline, “Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune to become chairman of AI battle tech company”, really bothered them, so they posted online, “We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
Daniel Ek, who runs Spotify, also started Prima Materia, a fund that just put almost 700 million dollars into Helsing, a company making AI software for militaries in places like the UK, Germany, and France. Helsing has actually been getting money from Prima Materia since 2021, but this new investment is the biggest yet.
Deerhoof didn’t stop at the AI stuff—they also said Spotify is a terrible place for musicians, calling it “creepy for users and crappy for artists.” They even joked, “Spotify is flushing itself down the toilet.” The band thinks music will always matter more than any digital scheme that just wants to get rich fast.
Fans sometimes feel like these companies care more about money than music.
Some people say Spotify helps music get discovered everywhere, but Deerhoof isn’t buying it. They said, “Just because someone is far from Western gatekeepers does not mean they lack culture, or need to hear our band.” They called themselves a “small mom and pop operation” and said they’re not interested in being part of a system that lets rich people fill the world with AI weapons, even if it means more people could find their music.
The band admitted their songs won’t vanish from Spotify instantly, but they hope it happens soon. They thanked their labels, who now have to do the hard work and share the money loss. “We know we are asking them to make a sacrifice, and it means a lot to us,” they wrote.
Joyful Noise Recordings, who put out a bunch of Deerhoof’s albums, backed them up, saying that small artists and labels basically have to use streaming sites to survive, even if those sites get money from places they don’t agree with.
