Music Industry – Page 5 – TYPiNG ouT oF THe BLue

Uninstall Spotify • Boycott Spotify

From Pirated MP3s to AI War: The Rise of Daniel Ek and Spotify’s Dark Side

Most people see Spotify as just music—your playlist, your road trip, your daily background. But behind the app is a history of piracy roots, low pay for artists, and Daniel Ek earning billions that now flow into AI weapons.

🎧 Spotify Started With Piracy (2006–2008)

2006 – Daniel Ek was 23 when he co-founded Spotify in Sweden with Martin Lorentzon.
- He grew up in the piracy generation, also downloading MP3s illegally.
- His idea: “You can’t stop piracy. Make something easier than piracy.”
2008 – Spotify launched. Users no longer owned music—once you stop paying, everything is gone.

🎵 One Stream, Almost No Pay

Artists earn around €0.003 ($0.0032 / ₱0.18) per stream, far lower than Apple Music.
2024 – Spotify set a 1,000-stream rule: songs under 1K plays in a year earn nothing.
2019 – Ek claimed making music now costs “close to zero,” ignoring real expenses like instruments, software, and studio time.
2023–2025 – Spotify playlists were filled with simple tracks under fake names and later AI-generated songs, paying less to real musicians.

⚠ Scandals and Issues

Spotify once tried to access user photos and contacts for playlists and social features, raising privacy concerns until it scaled back.
2022 – Spotify refused to drop Joe Rogan after COVID-19 misinformation, even as artists like Neil Young left in protest.
2023 – Spotify cut 1,500 jobs while Ek sold shares and made millions.
2025 – UK age-check rule: users had to provide facial scans or IDs for explicit content, sparking privacy backlash and VPN use.
Ek sold $340M (₱18.8B) worth of Spotify stock, while artists still struggle.

💣 From Music Money to Military Tech

2025 – Ek invested €600M (~$693M / ₱38B) into Helsing, an AI military company where he is Chairman.
Helsing builds AI-powered defense systems.

🎶 Indie Exodus from Spotify (2025)

A growing wave of indie artists are leaving Spotify over Ek’s investment in military AI.

Deerhoof said: “We don’t want our music killing people.”
Xiu Xiu called Spotify a “garbage hole violent armageddon portal.”
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard shouted “Fuck Spotify” and pulled their entire catalog.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor also removed their music from streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Hotline TNT joined the boycott in August 2025.
Other artists and labels like Kalahari Oyster Cult, David Bridie, Leah Senior, Skee Mask, and Charlie Waldren (Poolroom) pulled their tracks too.
The group UMAW called Ek’s move “warmongering.”

🎧 The Money Trail

Your playlist → Spotify profit → Daniel Ek → AI weapons.

Sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, TechCrunch, BBC, NY Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, The Fader, SF Chronicle, News.com.au, Indian Express.

Note: This article only connects public facts. The picture is yours to see.

𝚃𝚢𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎
𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚛.𝚌𝚘𝚖

Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek is pouring hundreds of millions into Helsing—a defense tech company now building AI-driven weapons: drones, submarines, even fighter aircraft systems. This isn’t just about music streams anymore. It’s about war.

And yet… silence.

The history of music is full of anti-war anthems:

• Bruce Springsteen — Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
-Often misread as patriotic, but actually a critique of war and its aftermath for veterans.

• Buffalo Springfield — For What It’s Worth (1966)
-Protest song tied to unrest, adopted as a peace and anti-war anthem.

• John Lennon — Give Peace a Chance, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), Imagine
-Timeless peace songs that became global protest anthems.

• Chumbawamba — Jacob’s Ladder (Not in My Name) (2002)
-A folk-driven protest against the “War on Terror” and the invasion of Iraq.

• Moby & Public Enemy — Make Love Fuck War (2003)
-A protest against the Iraq War, merging electronic music and hip-hop activism.

• Bob Dylan — Masters of War (1963)
-A sharp critique of the military-industrial complex.

• Marvin Gaye — What’s Going On (1971)
-A soulful plea for peace, born from the Vietnam era’s unrest.

• Creedence Clearwater Revival — Fortunate Son (1969)
-Vietnam-era rock anthem against class privilege and the draft.

• The Doors — The Unknown Soldier (1968)
-A psychedelic protest dramatizing the death of a Vietnam soldier.

• Pink Floyd — Us and Them (1973)
-A haunting critique of human conflict and the futility of war.

• U2 — War (1983)
-A whole album themed around conflict, with Sunday Bloody Sunday as its battle cry.

• Culture Club — The War Song (1984)
-A pop hit that openly declared “War is stupid.”

• Edwin Starr — War (What Is It Good For?) (1970)
-The bluntest anti-war anthem of its time, shouting “Absolutely nothing.”

• Black Sabbath — War Pigs (1970)
-Heavy metal’s signature anti-war track, condemning leaders who profit from war.

These weren’t just tracks — they were banners of conviction. They made fans believe these artists stood for something bigger. But today, conviction has become catalog. Protest has turned into background playlists. What changed?

Neil Young once pulled his music from Spotify over COVID misinformation, and it exploded in the media. Now, Spotify’s money is powering future war tech—and still, silence. No outrage. No protest. No PR (Press Release / Public Relations—same ol’ pa-pogi moves). And hey—his music’s back on Spotify. This from the same guy who dropped an entire album called Living with War in 2006. Now he’s on a “Love Earth” 2025 tour, while the Spotify missile is already strapped to him. He sang “rock and roll can never die.” True—rock won’t. People will. As if war matters less than a podcast. Why is that?

When it was good PR, artists took a stand. When it wasn’t, they stayed silent. The anti-war songs of the past still sell, still stream, still streaming on Spotify—yet their silence now only proves how easy it is to package conscience as art, then set it aside when fame and fortune are on the line. Maybe that’s the truth.

#UninstallSpotify #BoycottSpotify

𝚃𝚢𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎
𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚛.𝚌𝚘𝚖

Tag: Music Industry

Spotify to War