Massive Attack remove music from Spotify to protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military | Massive Attack

Huge Assault have grow to be the newest act – and first major-label one – to drag their catalogue from Spotify in protest at founder Daniel Ek investing €600m (£520m) within the army AI firm Helsing.In June, Ek’s enterprise capital agency Prima Materia led the defence tech agency’s newest funding spherical. Helsing’s software program makes use of AI know-how to analyse sensor and weapons system information from battlefields to tell real-time army choices. It additionally makes its personal army drone, the HX-2. Ek can also be chairman of Helsing.The band made the announcement on the identical time that they signed as much as a brand new initiative, No Music for Genocide, wherein a gaggle of greater than 400 artists and labels are blocking their music from streaming companies in Israel.In an announcement, the band stated:
Unconnected to this initiative and in gentle of the (reported) important investments by its CEO in an organization producing army munition drones and AI know-how built-in into fighter plane, Huge Assault have made a separate request to our label that our music be faraway from the Spotify streaming service in all territories.
In our view, the historic precedent of efficient artist motion throughout apartheid South Africa and the apartheid, battle crimes and genocide now being dedicated by the state of Israel renders the No Music for Genocide marketing campaign crucial.
Within the separate case of Spotify, the financial burden that has lengthy been positioned on artists is now compounded by a ethical and moral burden, whereby the hard-earned cash of followers and the inventive endeavours of musicians in the end funds deadly, dystopian applied sciences.
Sufficient is greater than sufficient.
One other approach is feasible.
​A Spotify spokesperson stated: “Spotify and Helsing are two completely separate firms.”They added that Helsing was “not concerned in Gaza” and its efforts had been “targeted on Europe defending itself in Ukraine”.Helsing stated in an announcement: “At present we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s know-how is deployed in battle zones aside from Ukraine. This isn’t right.“Our know-how is deployed to European international locations for deterrence and for defence towards the Russian aggression in Ukraine solely.”Huge Assault be part of Australian psych group King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Canadian post-rock group Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the Third Man Data-signed US band Hotline TNT, different US group Deerhoof and Manchester band Wu Lyf in eradicating their music from Spotify on account of Ek’s funding in Helsing.In contrast to these acts, Huge Assault won’t be able to host their music on the extensively used different Bandcamp, which is just obtainable to acts on unbiased report labels. After shifting to Bandcamp – and making their albums pay-what-you-want, together with £0 – King Gizzard’s total 27-album catalogue took the highest 27 spots on the platform.The No Music for Genocide initiative additionally contains artists comparable to MJ Lenderman, Amyl and the Sniffers, Rina Sawayama, Jockstrap, KeiyaA, John Glacier, Erika de Casier, Smerz, Wednesday, Nourished by Time, Mike, Yaeji and Faye Webster. The artists concerned both edited their launch territories or requested their distributor or label to geo-block their releases.Huge Assault expanded on their participation in an Instagram submit:
In 1991 the scourge of apartheid violence fell from South Africa, aided from a distance by public boycotts, protests, and the withdrawal of labor by artists, musicians and actors. Complicity with that state was thought-about unacceptable. In 2025 the identical now applies to the genocidal state of Israel. As of at this time, there’s a musician’s equal of the not too long ago introduced @filmworkers4palestine marketing campaign (signed by 4,500 filmmakers, actors, business employees & establishments) – it may be discovered @nomusicforgenocide & helps the broader asks of the rising @bds.motion. We’d attraction to all musicians to switch their unhappiness, anger and creative contributions right into a coherent, affordable & very important motion to finish the unspeakable hell being visited upon the Palestinians hour after hour.
Huge Assault beforehand fashioned a syndicate for artists talking out in assist of the Palestinian folks alongside Brian Eno, Kneecap and Fontaines DC, to guard musicians from being “threatened into silence or profession cancellation” by organisations comparable to UK Attorneys for Israel (UKLFI), which reported Bob Vylan to police for main a chant of “loss of life to the IDF” at Glastonbury, in addition to reporting the BBC for broadcasting the set.Of the syndicate, Huge Assault instructed the Guardian: “This collective motion is absolutely about providing some form of solidarity to these artists who’re dwelling day after day in a screen-time genocide, however are frightened about utilizing their platforms to specific their horror at that due to the extent of censorship inside their business or from extremely organised exterior authorized our bodies, terrifying them and their administration groups with aggressive authorized actions. The intention is evident and apparent: to silence them.”