Why Are Bands Leaving Spotify (Again)?

Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard performs during Strange Waves at The O2 Ritz Manchester on September 9, 2016 in Manchester, England.

Redferns

Last month, experimental rock outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard joined a growing list of artists to pull music from Spotify.

Why?

“A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology,” said a statement posted July 25 to the band’s Instagram page, referring to Ek leading a $600 million investment in a German drone company. “We just removed our music from the platform. Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better? Join us on another platform.”

The $600 million investment led by Ek’s Prima Materia firm goes to Helsing, a defense technology company worth an estimated $12 billion, according to a Financial Times report. Helsing is one of the highest-valued tech start-ups in Europe. The company plans to expand from AI software development into drone, aircraft and submarine technology, per the report.

“I’m sure people will criticize it and that’s OK. Personally, I’m not concerned about it,” Ek said in the story. “I focus more on doing what I think is right and I am 100 per cent convinced that this is the right thing for Europe.”

King Gizzard – a band with an avid following and expansive catalog of 27 albums (and counting) – joins a handful of acts to exit the platform this summer. The list includes indie-rock outfit Deerhoof, folk singer Leah Senior, record label Kalahari Oyster Cult and Australian musician David Birdie, who did published an op-ed last week in the Guardian that outlined his decision.

In the piece, Birdie said he doesn’t “want my songs – some written with survivors of conflict – to enrich people who fund weapons.”

This isn’t the first wave of artist backlash against to hit Spotify, the global leader in music streaming. An exodus took place in 2022, after the company inked a podcasting deal with controversial entertainer Joe Rogan. At that time, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others left the streaming service (Young and Mitchell each returned to Spotify in 2024).

King Gizzard, Birdie and others remain available on competing streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Amazon Music.