Photo Credit: Rayan Joseph
A growing group of independent musicians in Chicago is removing their music from Spotify—following other artists who have pulled out. The open letter cites grave concerns about data privacy and the platform’s proliferation of unlabeled artificial intelligence (AI) music. The action comes as Seattle musicians did the same earlier this month.
The open letter signed by more than 75 Chicago musicians states, “We, the undersigned members of Chicago’s community of independent musicians, have decided to remove all of a significant portion of our discography from Spotify. While each artist comes to this decision from a different collection of beliefs and experiences, there are a few core reasons why we have chosen to leave the platform now.”
The cited reasons include Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s deep ties and investment into the AI military tech company Helsing; Spotify’s unfair and inadequate compensation model for independent artists and its consistent devaluing of music work; the proliferation and promotion of unlabeled AI music across Spotify’s platform; and Spotify’s extensive surveillance and behavioral nudging of its users towards passive listening.
“Wrapped together, these issues demonstrate that Spotify is a company whose success stands in direct opposition to a peaceful, thriving and sustainable ecosystem for the very music makers and listeners they profit from.” The open letter states that the undersigned Chicago musicians do not want to be part of Spotify anymore. “We feel that we are in a position to make a powerful statement that can be understood clearly by our local audiences and beyond,” the letter continues.
These Chicago musicians’ decision comes just weeks after Seattle musicians took similar action. A collective known as Seattle Artists Against Spotify published an open pledge to remove their music to say that “music is forever and will last beyond this particularly toxic corporate platform.” The Seattle musicians’ open letter highlights many of the same concerns, including platforming and promoting fake AI music on Spotify Artists’ pages.
“We hope our action can serve as a small step towards a future that centers our shared humanity when it comes to making and sharing music with one another. There are so many ways to envision and build better alternatives to the cynical techno-corporate dominance of our present moment. We invite any musicians and labels based in Chicago to sign on to this commitment,” the open letter continues. Read the full letter here.
