Xiu Xiu are planning to take away their music from Spotify. “It’s taking longer than we had hoped as a consequence of procedurally problems however will likely be accomplished quickly,” the band cautioned in an announcement. “Thanks for the help and persistence.”
By means of a consultant Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart informed Pitchfork that they and their bandmates “have been engaged on this for a couple of month, and the hope is that nearly every little thing will likely be off subsequent week.” Additionally they stated that Polyvinyl, Kill Rock Stars, and Graveface have been “supportive” in serving to the band get its music off Spotify.
Explaining why they’re attempting to get their music off of Spotify, Xiu Xiu wrote: “Spotify makes use of music cash to put money into AI struggle drones.” Xiu Xiu are referring to investments made by Prima Materia, an funding fund that was based by Spotify co-founder and chief government Daniel Ek. It was reported in June that Prima Materia led a brand new spherical of funding in Helsing, a protection firm that sells software program that makes use of synthetic intelligence (AI) to tell army choices. Prima Materia has been investing in Helsing since 2021, and the brand new spherical of funding quantities to 600 million euros ($693.6 million). Helsing presently operates in the UK, Germany, and France.
When requested if Xiu Xiu plan to tug music from further streamers, Stewart stated: “We’re eradicating our music from Spotify particularly and inspiring folks to cancel their subscriptions due to their funding in AI struggle drones. Though the monetary practices of all streaming companies is acutely anti-musician, the actions of Spotify to make use of the income they constructed from primarily stealing music with the intention to homicide folks to make much more cash is sort of past comprehension.”
Final month, Deerhoof announced their intention of taking music off of Spotify. Additionally they cited Prima Materia’s investments as a serious motive in leaving the digital streaming platform.