With the rise of social media andstreaming, the relationship an artist has with their fans has been heightened immensely.It’s become much easier for artists to interact with their fans,and one another, on an hourly basis, and many artists have taken to using that platform to make their voices heard even outside their music and lyrics.
As an artist grows in popularity, so does their influence on the world at large. Whether that be financially, with abillion-dollar net worthfor some, or socially, with hundreds of millions of followers on their social media accounts,musicians are some of the greatest, loudest voices on any number of subjects beyond their music itself.
Recently, a handful of artists have begun using their platform to protest Spotify, and have spoken out against the platform by removing their music library from the streaming service.The newest group to pull their music from Spotify, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, are arguably the biggest,witha massive catalog of music, now inaccessible to Spotify users.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Have Pulled Their Music From Spotify
All 27 of Their Studio Albums
What makes King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard so unique is that no two albums sound quite alike—a truly impressive feat given that they have released nearly 30 albums in their 15-year tenure, releasing as many as five albums in a year, and doing exactly that not just once, but twice, in 2017 and 2022.
All 27 of their studio albums have disappeared from the platform, and the five songs that haven’t disappeared are different recordings than the recordings present on the albums.
Now, if you look at the band’s Spotify page, only five songs are available to stream,and they are all tracks that were featured on compilation albums for other projects. All 27 of their studio albums have disappeared from the platform, and the five songs that haven’t disappeared are different recordings than the recordings present on the albums.
King Gizzard has made their name as a result of their wide-ranging sound and eccentric personalities. Though they aren’t the biggest band in the world, per se, they are situated nicely within their niche andhave acquired a big enough following that a shift away from Spotify shouldn’t affect them too much,especially not for such an important reason.
King Gizzard Wizard Made Their Reasons Very Clear
The Band Made A Statement That Left Nothing To The Imagination
Knowing that if someone were to illegally bootleg the music, the band would not receive any royalties from those streams, they made it abundantly clear that they would still prefer someone do that if that meant they wouldn’t have to release them on Spotify.With their massive musical output, any true fan would certainly have to take that into consideration.
According toMusic Business Worldwide, this post came after the band posted a story to their Instagram account with a more in-depth explanation:
Hello friends. A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in Al 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.
King Gizzard is not the first band to pull their music from Spotify,and presumably, they won’t be the last.
The Australian Rock Band Aren’t The Only Ones Protesting Spotify CEO Daniel Ek
Ek Has Ruffled Quite a Few Feathers With His Financial Investments
According to theLA Times, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek led a $700 million investment fund for the European Defense company, Helsing, a company which specializes in Military AI technology. Ek’s investments provoked many artists to remove their music from his platform due tofundamental disagreements over what they deem to be a huge misuse of funds.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are the newest band to join the artist boycott of the platform, and they are greeted by fellow protesters, Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, two smaller bands who have also spoken out against the platform and taken action by working to remove their own catalogs from the platform as well.
King Gizzard is the biggest artist to remove their music from Spotify to date, and while the platform is unlikely to suffer major consequences just yet,it does make one wonder about whether they support the final destination of their subscription spending.The Australian rockers could very well be the domino that causes a big enough rumble in Spotify’s foundation.
