Hotline TNT have become the latest artist to remove their music from Spotify, saying it “does not align with the band’s values”.
In recent weeks, a number of names in the music industry have publicly withdrawn their material from the streaming service, including King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof.
Xiu Xiu stated that their decision stemmed from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s “investment in AI war drones”, describing the streamer as a “garbage hole violent armageddon portal”.
They urged fans to cancel their Spotify subscriptions, as did Deerhoof, who said: “We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
Now, the New York-based indie band Hotline TNT have made a similar decision. “We are leaving the Spotify streaming service,” frontman Will Anderson said in a statement. “The company that bills itself as the steward of all recorded music has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that it does not align with the band’s values in any way. A cooler world is possible.”
They went on to say that instead of Spotify, they intend to hold a 24-hour livestream on Twitch, YouTube and Instagram on September 5, where they hope to sell 500 copies of their third album ‘Raspberry Moon’, released in June. They plan to hold conversations during the stream about “favourite new music, sources for discovery and their feelings on Spotify”.
The Financial Times recently reported that Prima Materia, an investment company co-owned by Ek, is leading a €600million (£446million) investment in Helsing, a Munich-based company creating drones and artificial intelligence for military operations.
Announcing their withdrawal, King Gizzard wrote: “Hello friends. A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform. Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better? Join us on another platform.”
In recent years, people have been divided about streaming platforms and their impact on the music industry. In 2024, for example, Ek sparked backlash for his comments relating to the cost of “creating content”, with countless users and musicians describing him as “out of touch”.
Ek later walked back on his comments, explaining in an apology that he had no intention of dismissing the struggles faced by musicians and using the “reductive” label of “content”. The negative response to this was heightened as, around the same time, it was confirmed that Spotify had made profits of over €1billion (£860m), following staff being laid off and subscription prices rising.
Earlier this year, Cradle Of Filth frontman Dani Filth criticised the platform, saying he “owes it” to other musicians not to have an account, while Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante described streaming as the place “where music goes to die” last November.
The streaming platform also received criticism after it officially demonetised all songs on the platform with less than 1,000 streams – making it harder for artists to generate royalties from their music and restricting new artists looking to crack the music industry.