#BoycottSpotify say musicians after CEO EK invests $114M in AI warfare

Musicians and fans are calling for a boycott Spotify over CEO Daniel Ek’s $114M/€100M investment in AI defense tech company Helsing.

Helsing uses artificial intelligence to build live battlefield maps in what it calls an ‘ethical, responsible and transparent’ way.

Ek proudly announced new board seat and investment calling Helsing “ambitious, ethical, & driven by a mission to help build a thriving society.”

But responses to his tweet we overwhelmingly negative.

RA found that 80% of the the Twitter response to Ek’s post and weren’t happy with the decision as wer 95% of the retweets.

Today, I am proud to announce that @PrimaMateria_ is investing €100m in @HelsingAI & that I am joining the board.

Prima Materia was founded to partner with teams like Helsing. Ambitious, ethical, & driven by a mission to help build a thriving society.https://t.co/46XsanjlLx
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) November 9, 2021

#BoycottSPOTIFY

Some in the music community see Ek’s investment as using the huge profits he made from music to enable future warfare, and using the hashtag #BoycottSpotify they are speaking out.

#BoycottSPOTIFY now! Cancel your subscription today. Artists and music lovers must not support the military #AI industry! Register your anger at the #Spotify involvement in sponsorship of Arms Corporations. This is so vile. Music is NOT War! Just wrong on every level. https://t.co/5k4Wnv6zj0
— Darren Sangita (@darrensangita) November 22, 2021

Enough is enough – using our content to fund war is the final straw – @Spotify @spotifyartists #boycottspotify pic.twitter.com/7JoGGb21Fg
— Saint Martyn (Ryanne Martyn) (@saintmartyn) November 30, 2021

#BoycottSPOTIFY
The exploitation of music artists by a company that gives artists a very small slice of $. to fund any sort of military program is unethical.

Please support bandcamp, a platform that truly values artists and good ethics.https://t.co/i8dZrkhA17
— Mind over Matter (@tryoung) November 29, 2021

I am most certainly going to #boycottSpotify and will ask my friends, family and colleagues about it too. We don’t need investment to kill more people, we need investment in education, science and healthcare. https://t.co/5AgZHcqGv9
— Vudi Xhymshiti (@VudiXhymshiti) November 29, 2021

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.

Bruce Houghton on 11/30/2021 in Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (0)

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