Artists and users boycotting Spotify over AI use and CEO’s military tech.
A few weeks ago, Melbourne musician Fenn Wilson announced to fans that he was boycotting Spotify.
“All I said was … this may not make a major difference to them, but they never really made much of a difference to us either.”
His band, Fenn Wilson & The Weather, joins a growing list of Australian artists who have pulled their full catalogues off the streaming platform, including psych-rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, folk artist Leah Senior and contemporary musician David Bridie.
Similarly, American indie rock bands including Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and Hotline TNT, have announced their exit.
“As individual, small artists, it’s hard to … strike a massive blow to a company like Spotify,” Fenn says.
“But I think that if a bunch of us are able to get themselves off … then they start to sweat a little.”
Why are people boycotting Spotify?
In June, it was revealed that Spotify’s chief executive, Daniel Ek, led a billion-dollar investment into Helsing, a German military technology company that specialises in developing artificial intelligence systems.
