Durham electropop duo Sylvan Esso announced the group would remove its full music catalogue from Spotify, adding their name to a growing list of artists who have removed their music from the streaming platform in recent months.
In a statement, the group said it didn't want to be associated with a group that funds "war machines."
"We have to decide what we want to be a part of and what we don't," according to the statement. "While no solution is perfect, we simply can't continue to put our life's work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines."
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is a co-founder of the investment company Prima Materia which has invested €600 million in Helsing, a company that creates drones and AI for military operations. Helsing says the only war zone where its technology is deployed is in Ukraine.
"Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defence against the Russian aggression in Ukraine only," according to the Helsing statement.
Ek made a personal investment in Helsing, which is not associated with Spotify the company. On Tuesday, news broke that Ek would step down as CEO of Spotify.
Sylvan Esso is not the first to make the decision to leave the streaming platform. Since June, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Cindy Lee, and Hotline TNT have all also left Spotify due to CEO Ek's ties with Helsing.
More broadly, musicians have long criticized Spotify for not paying artists enough. Generally, Spotify pays between $3 and $5 per 1,000 streams on the platform. That money is split between the artist and label at rates that vary across the industry. Sylvan Esso says it has amassed close to 1 billion streams on Spotify.
"WDID" was recorded at Sylvan Esso's Chapel Hill studio Betty's and was produced with Jake Luppen of the band Hippo Campus. The single will be released physically on a 12" single January 9.
