Let's turn Spotify into a graveyard : )

A change must come.

Musicians, artists, producers, agents, engineers, labels, venues, DJs, radio station and record store owners : if you’re anything like me you don’t want your music, your work, your art or your money contributing to war. The very idea probably gives you “The Ick”. Or perhaps more accurately, “the Ek”.

Crazy idea, perhaps even a bad one, but hear me out…

The streaming market has been overdue for disruption for quite a while… and in lieu of some seismic change happening magically on its own, we may need to band together to force a shift. One way we might approach this, one way to apply some collective pressure in a system we have little to no autonomy in, one way to show our techno-bro overlords that artists and users have some leverage ie. the power to affect their bottom line, is to turn Spotify into a graveyard - a place where art goes to die.

Dying art case-in-point, by Chad-GPT

Ok, turn Spotify into a graveyard. WHAT? HOW? WHY? Let’s start with HOW…

STOP DEBUTING ANY + ALL NEW MUSIC ON SPOTIFY. Simple. From now on, we make them wait for it after it’s been released. How long? I don’t know - 3 months, 6 months? Till whenever you’re ready. But by doing so, by not granting them first access to the music, we flip the script almost overnight - we revoke their position as first in line, removing their assumed role as the current arbiters of taste, as the cool kids, which in turn will have an effect on user rate and, inevitably, market share. ¹

Postpone that next release on Spotify only, and tell your fans exactly why you’re doing it and where to come find you instead. We’re moving the release-party somewhere else.

THAT sends a message, one that demands leverage.

ARTISTS, ASK YOURSELF THIS : why are we all so fucking eager to debut our music on a platform that shamefully exploits and undervalues our work, that keeps changing the goal posts, that keeps dangling the imaginary carrot of playlists equaling mailbox money, that’s now refusing to pay lesser-spun artists for their work at all, that plays favorites with the already mega-successful, all while under-serving it’s users (don’t even get me started on the lack of liner notes available in the “digital age of information”).

I’ll go first: I’m not eager for it at all and actually dread the idea of putting my music there (more on that below). Not because I don’t want folks to be able to listen to it and find me of course, but because it already feels like a place for music to rot. So all I’m saying is, why not make it official?!?

If a movement caught fire to withhold new music for any amount of real time after it debuted, Spotify would no longer be synonymous with brand new music, which they thrive on for status and engagement. We agree to only put our music there LATER on in the album cycle, after our die-hard fans and biggest supporters have had a chance to purchase or stream from our own sites or another platform that we can feel good, or at least a little bit better about. Perhaps this window creates a chance for a bit of old-school demand and offers fans a chance to step up and support more directly right at the time when artists are most hoping to recoup their expenses from making the damn thing!

WHY DO THIS??? I can only speak for myself here but because as an artist, I don’t want my music contributing to war. Or more specifically, to those who invest in + profit from war.

Spotify founder Daniel Ek has a few other businesses you may not know about. Ek is also the founder of a venture capital firm named Prima Materia, a company who just made a near $700 million dollar investment into a European defense technology startup named Helsing, a company which, wait for it…. Ek also serves as chairman.

Wait a minute Bob, so you’re saying “THIS GUY” isn’t so cool after all?

Hard to believe, I know. So what does this company do?

“Helsing sells software that uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze large amounts of sensor and weapons system data from the battlefield to inform military decisions in real time. Last year, the startup also began manufacturing its own line of MILITARY DRONES.” ²

Tell you what, I’m not fucking havin any of this. It’s time for a change. We need leverage in this conversation and we don’t have any. And the only way to get it is to act together.

This is just one idea, an approach I thought up last night and, again, it might be a bad one. If you’ve got a better idea, I’m listening.

Make music, not war.

1. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/music-streaming-stats

2. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/17/spotifys-daniel-ek-leads-investment-in-defense-startup-helsing.html