Xiu Xiu are removing their music from Spotify.
“It is taking longer than we had hoped due to procedurally complications but will be completed soon,” the band said in a statement revealing their decision to pull their output from the streaming platform. “Thanks for the support and patience.”
Going more in-depth about why they were removing their music from the streaming service, they said: “Spotify uses music money to invest in AI war drones.” In addition to being the the co-founder and chief executive of Spotify, Daniel Ek is the founder of an investment fund called Prima Materia, which recently reportedly led a new round of investment in Helsing, a defence company that sells software that uses artificial intelligence to support the actions of different nations’ militaries. Prima Materia has been investing in Helsing since 2021, and the defence company currently operates in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
In an additional statement provided to press, Xiu Xiu said they had been in the process of removing their music from Spotify for the past month, and hoped that it would be completed next week. They also said labels Polyvinyl, Kill Rock Stars and Graveface have been “supportive” in helping them get their records taken down from the streaming platform.
Speaking to Pitchfork, the band’s Jamie Stewart said: “We are removing our music from Spotify specifically and encouraging people to cancel their subscriptions because of their investment in AI war drones. Although the financial practices of all streaming services is acutely anti-musician, the actions of Spotify to use the profits they made from essentially stealing music in order to murder people to make even more money is almost beyond comprehension.”
The action sees Xiu Xiu follow Deerhoof’s lead after they revealed earlier this month that they were in the process of having their music taken down from Spotify also.
