r/technology • u/tekz • 18h ago

Business Why are so many musicians removing their music from Spotify?

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/musicians-removing-music-spotify-royalties-ai-daniel-ek-10208768/
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u/Schnorch 15h ago

Daniel Ek (not Spotify) has invested in a german company (Helsing) that develops AI-controlled drones and other military AI applications.

Only Americans, who are sitting safely on their continent, and a few musicians are complaining about it. In Europe, where there is currently a war going on and where Russia is also a constant threat far beyond Ukraine, this is largely viewed positively. We can see in Ukraine how important this type of weaponry is for defense.

It is good and important for our security when investments are made in European defense companies. Especially when these investments come from Europeans.

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u/OrphisFlo 11h ago

In addition to that, he's Swedish. The Swedish airspace is being violated by Russia all the time around the Gotland island to test the NATO response times and more. Totally a sign the country is safe and shouldn't need to prepare at all, right?

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u/Sneet1 13h ago

This is absolutely wishful thinking and totally incorrect. The "handful" of artists pulling out are in Europe just as much as they are in America. From a financial standpoint it's a bunch of critically acclaimed independent artists, so nothing in terms of revenue but huge in terms of critical cultural impact. Of course it doesn't matter if you're just into top 40 or buy stocks, it matters if you're particularly interested in music or music journalism

You're also really projecting your wishful thinking into this as almost all the bands pulling out are citing the usage of these weapons in Israel. Which is even more popular in Europe than American as a stance among the left and fringe art communities.

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u/Schnorch 13h ago

I don't care whether these bands are on Spotify or not. What I care about is my safety and that of everyone else in Europe. And most of the bands are still active on the big American corporations like Amazon and Apple, which only serves to highlight their hypocrisy.

Also, helsing is a startup and has not yet supplied any weapons to Israel. So that argument is total bullshit.