Artists and users boycotting Spotify over AI use and CEO's military tech
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek's million-dollar investment into military tech has become the "tipping point" for users dissatisfied with the streaming platform. ( TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty Images)
A few weeks ago, Melbourne musician Fenn Wilson announced to fans that he was boycotting Spotify.
"All I said was … this may not make a major difference to them, but they never really made much of a difference to us either."
His band, Fenn Wilson & The Weather, joins a growing list of Australian artists who have pulled their full catalogues off the streaming platform, including psych-rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, folk artist Leah Senior and contemporary musician David Bridie.
Similarly, American indie rock bands including Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and Hotline TNT, have announced their exit.
"As individual, small artists, it's hard to … strike a massive blow to a company like Spotify," Fenn says.
"But I think that if a bunch of us are able to get themselves off … then they start to sweat a little."
Why are people boycotting Spotify?
In June, it was revealed that Spotify's chief executive, Daniel Ek, led a billion-dollar investment into Helsing, a German military technology company that specialises in developing artificial intelligence systems.
It is something Fenn Wilson, and some other musicians, say they wanted to protest.
"I've always seen music as a sort of reflection of myself," he says. "If it's available on something that doesn't reflect who I am, then I don't think that it has a place there.
"To corrupt something that somebody has made with beautiful intent that harshly is unforgivable."
Fenn Wilson (second left), with his band The Weather, says he has made "maybe $200" from Spotify since 2019. (Supplied: Laura May Grogan)
It is not just artists — some listeners say they are boycotting too.
Hiro was a Spotify Premium user but tells triple j hack he stopped paying for a subscription after learning of the CEO's investments.
He said his involvement in the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against Israeli products, which responds to its actions in Gaza and the West Bank, meant he's already mindful of where he spends his money.
"If I don't want to buy a canned beverage because its parent company invests a lot in Israel, why am I paying like $11, $15 so that the CEO can invest that money I paid to a weapons company?"
A tipping point
Dr Sophie Freeman is a researcher of music streaming and algorithmic recommendation at the University of Melbourne. "We're at a bit of a tipping point right now," she says.
"People are definitely making the switch due to the news that Daniel Ek is investing in AI battle tech. But … this has been going on for a long time."
Back in 2014, Taylor Swift removed her entire music catalogue from Spotify to protest what she said was the platform's low royalty payouts to artists.
"And they still are [low]," Dr Freeman says, "which is another big reason people might be boycotting".
A single song stream on Spotify might generate as little as $0.004 in royalties. Additionally, songs cannot earn revenue until they reach more than 1,000 streams.
A spokesperson says Spotify Australia "can't comment on the personal investments" of Daniel Ek. (Reuters: Shannon Stapleton/File)
"In 2024, royalties generated by Australian artists from Spotify reached over $300 million, up 14 per cent since 2023," a spokesperson for Spotify Australia told triple j hack.
Additionally, Spotify says "more than half" of those royalties were generated by independent artists or labels.
But Fenn Wilson says this does not reflect his experience.
He released his first album in 2019, and estimates he has made "maybe $200" from Spotify earnings throughout his entire time on the platform.
"Australian artists are not well represented on streaming services," Dr Freeman says. "Both artists and listeners are really missing out."
The rise of AI-generated music
Another part of the growing backlash is Spotify's use of AI tools and AI-generated music. And some listeners say they are concerned about whether "fake" music has already crept into their playlists.
"Hearing that it's a possibility that you could be duped into listening to something that was created by an algorithm instead of someone's hard work … and love into the music, I didn't like that," Hiro says.
In June, a band called The Velvet Sundown released their debut album on Spotify, appearing across multiple user-specific "Discover Weekly" playlists.
It was not until it was confirmed by journalists that it was revealed The Velvet Sundown were not real.
The music and press shots of the "band" were AI-generated, and Spotify — like most streamers — did not label them as such.
The Velvet Sundown still attracts more than 330,000 monthly listeners, which critics of Spotify say raises concerns about how this competes with real artists.
Spotify Australia has policies around AI use and takes steps to ensure AI doesn't deceive subscribers or impersonate artists.
Spotify also has policies around taking down content that is deceptive.
Dr Freeman says major streamers are already saturated with content.
"The sheer volume of music that is going up on streaming platforms," she says. "It's about 100,000 songs every single day.
"The promise of getting discovered on Spotify is kind of not being fulfilled now."
Dr Sophie Freeman's PhD at the University of Melbourne explores how "listeners and artists experience algorithmic recommendation and personalisation on music streaming platforms". (Supplied: Dr Sophie Freeman)
When it comes to how much rights holders and artists are paid by competing services, such as Apple Music, TIDAL and YouTube Music, "there's not that much difference between all of them", says Dr Freeman.
"I think if you want to be supporting artists, which I know a lot of people do, the best thing you can do is buy music directly."
The Spotify narrative
Spotify was founded in Sweden in 2006 but officially launched in Australia in 2012. Along with other digital streaming platforms, it heralded the end of the music piracy era and the start of subscription-based access.
Fenn Wilson says there is an expectation for musicians to be on there.
"It felt like, if you weren't on Spotify, then you may as well not release it," he says.
Amy is a podcast producer and has been streaming music on Spotify for a decade.
"This narrative that Spotify has been able to push about themselves — that in their early days they were really shaking up the music industry," she says. "Bring the power away from these record companies.
"The narrative that they sold about it being better for independent artists wasn't true at all."
Amy cancelled and deleted her Spotify account, not long after reading a book by American music journalist Liz Pelly titled 'Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist'.
In it, Pelly argues that music from major labels dominates featured playlists and content on Spotify.
"It's just a pretty blatant example of how the platform really isn't fair and isn't an equitable system of treating artists," Amy says.
Has streaming changed our listening habits?
Technology has long shaped the way we consume media, and the way streaming allows instantaneous access to a vast catalogue is no exception.
"My brain is just wired to prioritise the convenience and the immediacy of it," Hiro says. "I'm slowly trying to get back into a more conscious listening experience."
The rise of playlists — as Pelly's book argues — has prioritised passive music listening.
Liz Pelly's book is a cutting critique of how streamers like Spotify have revolutionised our relationship to music as content. (Supplied/Hatchette Australia)
"We have all at one point used music as a motivational tool or something in the background to try and keep us focused," Amy says.
Dr Freeman says this is by design. "The main goal of Spotify … is to keep us on the platform, keep us engaged. And the best way to do that is to give us safe and familiar content."
It means users might be finding it harder to discover new music, with recommendations potentially becoming a feedback-loop of songs already on rotation.
"If they serve up something that's a little bit too outside of your taste or too out there, then people might leave and go to another service," Dr Freeman says.
Spotify is also impacting how we perceive the value of music.
"It used to be like $25 for a CD," Fenn Wilson says. "The fact that Spotify is paying as [little] as they are now has diluted the value of music.
"There are now going to be generations of people that have grown up thinking that that's how much music is worth. And to a certain degree, that's irreversible."
The bells and whistles of Spotify
Spotify recently increased its Premium subscription prices and introduced 'Lossless' audio, allowing streaming at higher quality.
It joins recent features like AI DJ and AI Playlist, new "Mix" functions for "seamless transitions" between songs, and Spotify's "daylist" — a playlist that changes throughout the day to capture a user's mood.
But Hiro is not convinced the value of the service has improved.
"They had an AI DJ," he says. "That didn't stick with me … it kind of felt weird."
The newer features also did not resonate with Amy, including the annual "Spotify Wrapped", which has copped heat from users over potentially inaccurate and gimmicky data.
"The discourse around Spotify Wrapped being not as good as previous years," Amy says. "You know, 'You're giving Princess Pony Pilates' … seemed to be a swing and a miss.
"The push of trying to have podcasts, video on the platform … the 'daylists'; I think it definitely has lost some cultural cachet," Amy says.
What next?
Would Hiro, Amy or Fenn Wilson ever go back to Spotify? That is a resounding no.
They all collect and listen to vinyl records when they can. As for streaming, Hiro mainly uses Bandcamp and sometimes YouTube, while Amy and Fenn have switched to major streamer TIDAL.
Music by Fenn Wilson & The Weather is available on Bandcamp and all other major streamers.
In terms of supporting artists, Wilson says buying their music or merchandise and going to gigs is the best way to show up.
"I'm really interested in curation … and curators," Dr Freeman says. "That is something that people are really connected to because Spotify is a lot of programmed or algorithmically recommended music that's put into playlists.
"I think that people are really drawn to a human person putting together music and hearing this stories, because music is really personal.
"Buying music directly from the artist or buying it in a record store … you're having a direct connection," she says. "It's kind of more meaningful than getting a playlist made by a recommender system."
But despite the boycott, Fenn Wilson thinks changing streaming services will not actually fix some of music's deeper problems.
"I would love to see … the government set a minimum rate so that if there are these streaming platforms that come along and want Australian artists," he says. "Then this is how much you've got to pay them.
"That would be a dream."