\n Published on
\n 30\/07\/2025 – 11:32 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The prolific Australian psych-rock group King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is the latest band to cut ties with Spotify in protest of CEO Daniel Ek’s increasing ties with the arms industry – specifically his investment in a controversial AI-driven military tech firm. <\/p>\n
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Ek co-founded the investment firm Prima Materia, which has invested heavily in Helsing, a German company developing AI for use in warfare, including drone technology.<\/p>\n
The Financial Times recently reported that Prima Materia led a \u20ac600 million funding round for Helsing and had previously backed the company before Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n
The news has sparked strong backlash from musicians who say they no longer want to be associated with a platform whose profits are being funnelled into weapons development.<\/p>\n
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, known for hits like ‘Work This Time’ and ‘Robot Stop’, have removed nearly all of their music from Spotify, only leaving a few releases due to existing licensing deals. They announced the decision on Instagram, stating their new demos were available \u201ceverywhere except Spotify,\u201d adding \u201cf*** Spotify.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other artists have taken similar action. American indie group Deerhoof posted a statement saying they don’t want their “music killing people” and described Spotify as a \u201cdata-mining scam.\u201d Experimental rock group Xiu Xiu also criticised the platform, calling it a \u201cgarbage hole armageddon portal” and urged fans to cancel their Spotify subscriptions. <\/p>\n
These protests add to a growing list of controversies and concerns surrounding the streaming platform. Spotify recently came under fire after allowing an AI-generated band called Velvet Sundown<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> which has managed to rack up millions of streams, to appear on its platform with a \u201cverified artist\u201d badge. <\/p>\n Euronews Culture’s very own music aficionado David Mouriquand described it as “a prime example of autocratic tech bros\u00a0seeking to reduce human creation to algorithms designed to eradicate art.” <\/p>\n He added: “When artists are expressing real, legitimate concerns<\/strong><\/a> over the ubiquity of AI in a tech-dominated world and the use of their content in the training of AI tools, the stunt comes off as tone-deaf. Worse, morally shameless.” <\/p>\n And while Spotify announced in its Loud & Clear 2024 report<\/strong><\/a> that it paid over $10 billion (\u20ac9.2 billion) to the music industry in 2024 alone, critics argue that most of those payouts go to just a small percentage of top artists and labels, and that the platform still underpay and exploit the vast majority of musicians. <\/p>\n