-OpEd-
HAMBURG — According to the manufacturer, the HX-2 drone is “capable of engaging artillery, armored vehicles and other military targets at a range of up to 100 kilometers.” In other words, it’s designed to kill people efficiently and, thanks to AI, more or less autonomously.
The Munich-based company Helsing will soon be able to produce even more of its HX-2 drones and other AI-supported weapons systems: It just received a 600 million euro capital boost. The majority of that comes from Prima Materia, a company owned by Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek, who recently sold 800 million euros worth of Spotify shares.
Back in 2021, Ek had already invested around 100 million euros in Helsing through Prima Materia. This latest move has made even bigger waves in the music world than his first investment. The long-standing San Francisco indie rock band Deerhoof addressed their nearly 50,000 monthly Spotify listeners in a statement: “We don’t want our music to kill people.” They announced that their music would be pulled from the platform. Soon after, similar announcements followed from San José experimental rock group Xiu Xiu (140,000 monthly listeners) and Melbourne’s psych rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (1.5 million).
These three bands are iconic in their respective scenes but remain mostly unknown outside of them. So their departure is unlikely to cause serious damage to Spotify. Even when Neil Young (now with 11 million monthly listeners) and Taylor Swift (82 million) temporarily removed their catalogs in protest, the platform saw no lasting consequences. The initial losses are likely to hit the artists themselves. Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu acknowledged in an interview that his band had earned “not insignificant amounts of money” on Spotify.
Still, Xiu Xiu and others seem ready to accept this financial hit. Their decision goes beyond Ek’s investments in the arms industry. Bands and musicians, especially those signed to independent labels, have long voiced frustration with Spotify.
They accuse the company of unfair revenue distribution and a lack of transparency. The platform also recently announced it would stop paying for tracks that fail to meet a minimum number of streams. Spotify has also faced criticism for putting smaller artists in direct competition with AI-generated music and so-called ghost artists on its playlists.
Not built for the little guys
Ek stated back in 2020 that the days when musicians could make a living by releasing an album every three to four years were over. Comments like these have helped fuel the argument that Spotify and other streaming giants are devaluing music. Users are increasingly locked into the platform by algorithm-driven playlists and recommendations designed to maximize convenience. This setup benefits Spotify, of course, but also major record labels — Universal, Warner, Sony — which supplied the vast catalogs that helped streaming take off and that, in many cases, still hold shares in Spotify. Their interests remain deeply intertwined.
If these bands manage to thrive outside of a system that was never built for them in the first place, they could become a model.
Given all this, it’s no surprise that the industry association Impala, which represents independent record labels, recently described a “two-tier streaming market” in its latest report. Even outside observers agree: Platforms like Spotify follow “asymmetric models.”
Mark Mulligan, head of the market research firm Midia, put it bluntly in a March report: services like Spotify weren’t designed to benefit the “little guys.”
That’s one reason Mulligan and Midia developed what they call the “crossroads theory.” It doesn’t predict sweeping reforms of the streaming economy, as some industry figures have called for. Instead, it suggests that most of the music world will continue down its current path, catering to a largely passive audience through popular streaming services. But a smaller segment could break away and focus on cultivating deeper relationships with dedicated fans.
deerhoof via Instagram
Alternaive routes
Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are now test cases for this alternative route. Their decision to leave Spotify holds symbolic value, even for listeners who may never have heard of them. If these bands manage to maintain their careers, or even thrive outside of a system that was never built for them in the first place, they could become a model, at least for artists operating at a similar scale.
They won’t be starting from zero. There are already a number of alternative streaming platforms with distribution models, genre focus, or cooperative structures better suited to smaller acts. By pulling their music from Spotify and other major platforms, artists also lend momentum to these alternatives. But real connection with fans may depend on more than streaming. Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, for example, still earn a significant share of their income from physical sales, digital downloads, and merchandise. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard mainly thrive as a touring band.
Ek won’t lose any sleep over these bands, nor will he rethink his defense investments if Deerhoof and company release their music elsewhere. But because the artists are not trying to make a utopian statement — just to secure their own future — their decision may be all the more powerful.