Massive Attack intend to pull their music from Spotify. The band shared the news in a statement that also expressed solidarity with a new cultural boycott initiative called No Music for Genocide. The movement calls for artists, labels, and rights-holders to remove music from streaming platforms in Israel, via geo-blocking, in protest of the country’s ongoing assault of Gaza, and Massive Attack intend to participate in the boycott.
“Unconnected to this initiative & in light of the (reported) significant investments by it’s CEO in a company producing military munition drones & AI technology intergrated into fighter aircraft, Massive Attack have made a separate request to our label that our music be removed from the Spotify streaming service in all territories,” Massive Attack wrote.
“In the separate case of Spotify, the economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral & ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans & the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies,” the band continued. “Enough is more than enough. Another way is possible.”
Numerous artists have removed their music from Spotify in recent weeks, largely in protest of chief executive Daniel Ek and his venture capital fund Prima Materia’s investments in Helsing, a defense company that currently operates in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, and sells software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to inform military decisions. Helsing, in a statement posted on September 17, wrote: “Currently we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s technology is deployed in war zones other than Ukraine. This is not correct. Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defence against Russian aggression in Ukraine only.”
Among the acts to pull music from Spotify recently are: Hotline TNT, Young Widows, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, WU LYF, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, and Deerhoof.
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