The Australian rock group King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is among the latest to protest Spotify<\/a> CEO Daniel Ek and his controversial investments in AI-powered military technology. Other artists, including Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, have followed suit.<\/p>\n Ek co-founded the tech investment company Prima Materia in 2021. In June, the Financial Times<\/a> reported that Prima Materia led a multimillion-dollar investment in Helsing, a European AI defense firm focused on drone warfare and battlefield tech.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDownload the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts\u2122.\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tPoint phone camera here\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The outlet also noted Prima Materia had previously backed Helsing months before Russia\u2019s 2021 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n When asked about the company\u2019s strategy, Ek told Financial Times:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an enormous realization that it\u2019s really now AI, mass and autonomy that is driving the new battlefield. We can\u2019t understate the implications of that for this conflict [in Ukraine] or really any conflict going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n As of this week, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard\u2019s Spotify page<\/a> is nearly wiped clean. Only a few collaborative projects remain on the platform due to a pre-existing label agreement with Joyful Noise Recordings. <\/p>\n The band has amassed a massive discography, releasing 27 albums since its founding in 2010. While it\u2019s not uncommon for the band to release more than an album a year, in 2017, the band released five full-length albums. The band did it again five years later in 2022.<\/p>\n Band members announced their departure on Instagram<\/a> over the weekend, saying, \u201cNew demos collection out everywhere except Spotify (f\u2014 Spotify). You can bootleg it if you wanna.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, musical group Deerhoof also removed its music from Spotify. In a statement posted to their website<\/a>, the group wrote, \u201c\u2018Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune to become chairman of AI battle tech company\u2019 was not a headline we enjoyed reading this week. We don\u2019t want our music killing people.\u201d<\/p>\n Xiu Xiu followed suit on Thursday, July 24. They posted a statement on Instagram<\/a> saying, \u201cWe are currently working to take all of our music off of garbage hole violent armageddon portal Spotify.\u201d<\/p>\n The band concluded by urging fans to cancel their subscriptions.<\/p>\n While every artist\u2019s streaming revenue differs, it\u2019s widely known that they see a small cut of the profits from streams. For smaller artists, they average less than a penny per stream.<\/p>\n Despite growing backlash, some high-profile artists have returned to Spotify after previously boycotting the platform.<\/p>\n Musician Joni Mitchell pulled her catalog in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,\u201d she wrote on her website<\/a>. \u201cIrresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Neil Young\u2019s decision stemmed from the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on \u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Following the controversy, Joe Rogan released a now-deleted, nine-minute video on Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a doctor. I\u2019m not a scientist,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely. I get things wrong. But I try to correct them\u2026 I\u2019m interested in finding out what the truth is.\u201d<\/p>\n Ek responded by announcing<\/a> Spotify would add content advisories to podcast episodes that touch on the pandemic. The company also launched a COVID-19 hub to direct listeners to \u201ctrusted sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Last spring, Young re-uploaded his music to the platform. Mitchell followed this summer.<\/p>\n While artists continue to pull content, Spotify released its second-quarter earnings<\/a> on Tuesday, July 29.<\/p>\n The company reported 276 million paying premium subscribers, up from 268 million the previous quarter. However, despite the increase in monthly active users, Spotify posted a quarterly loss instead of the predicted profit.<\/p>\n This result was largely expected, as Spotify has recently shifted away from exclusive podcast deals in favor of non-exclusive licensing agreements.<\/p>\n Ek addressed the company\u2019s financial growing pains in a call with investors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one area that hasn\u2019t yet met our expectations is our ads business,\u201d he said, according to Hollywood Reporter<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve simply been moving too slowly, and it\u2019s taken longer than expected to see the improvements we initiated to take hold. It\u2019s really an execution challenge, not a problem with the strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\t\tDaniel Ek\u2019s investment firm fuels backlash<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nSpotify loses artist catalogs<\/h3>\n
Band joins other artists<\/h3>\n
Not all artists are staying gone<\/h3>\n
Spotify\u2019s financial performance sees mixed results<\/h3>\n
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