Spotify has been called out for a lot of things: starving artists with pennies per stream, hollowing out music discovery, pumping playlists with algorithmic filler. But this week, the critique cut far deeper. Massive Attack, one of the most politically outspoken bands of our time, yanked their entire catalogue off Spotify. The reason? Spotify’s billionaire CEO Daniel Ek isn’t just running a streaming empire — he’s also bankrolling the weapons of tomorrow.
Ek has poured €600 million into Helsing, a European defense-tech firm. Not content with coding software for playlists, he now chairs a company building drones and AI systems for battlefields. Helsing’s HX-2 drone is no Silicon Valley prototype — it’s a combat machine. Spotify and Helsing may be separate on paper, but money is fungible. And for Massive Attack, that makes every stream complicit.
“The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral & ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans & the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies.” — Massive Attack statement (Consequence)
From South Africa to Gaza
Massive Attack didn’t mince words. They linked their boycott to the cultural strikes that helped crack South African apartheid. “Complicity with that state was considered unacceptable,” they wrote. “In 2025 the same now applies to the genocidal state of Israel.”
This is more than moral outrage — it’s an explicit demand that musicians recognize their leverage. Just as artists once boycotted Sun City in South Africa, Massive Attack insists it’s time to deny cultural oxygen to a state accused of genocide.
The band has joined the No Music for Genocide campaign, already endorsed by over 400 artists and labels. They call their boycott “a musician’s equivalent” of the Film Workers for Palestine campaign, which has galvanized thousands of filmmakers worldwide.
Spotify’s Shrug
Predictably, Spotify wants no part of this storm. A spokesperson insisted:
“Spotify and Helsing are two totally separate companies … Helsing’s efforts are focused on Europe defending itself in Ukraine.” — Spotify spokesperson (Consequence)
Helsing, too, denied its tech is deployed in Gaza. But let’s be real: does it matter where the drones fly today? The question isn’t geographic. It’s ethical. Should the streaming checks of artists and the subscription dollars of fans be indirectly subsidizing military AI at all?
Massive Attack’s point is that the money trail matters. Pretending otherwise is how war economies hide in plain sight.
More Than a Gesture
Critics may dismiss this as symbolic. After all, plenty of bands have abandoned Spotify over royalty gripes. But this is different. When an act of Massive Attack’s stature, signed to major labels and woven into global music culture, cuts ties, the impact reverberates. They’re putting principle over access. They’re turning off the spigot — and daring others to do the same.
They also staged it. At their September 18 Wembley Arena show, the band projected an audio/visual statement amplifying the boycott. It wasn’t just a backstage press release; it was art as direct confrontation.
The Gauntlet
“Enough is more than enough,” they declared. “Another way is possible.” — Massive Attack (The Guardian)
That’s the challenge hanging in the air now. Will other artists keep streaming, shrugging off where the profits flow? Or will they, too, pull the plug — sacrificing convenience, visibility, and payouts to make a point?
Because let’s be clear: this isn’t about Spotify’s UI, or playlists, or whether you love your Discover Weekly. It’s about whether artists and audiences are willing to admit the cost of complicity. When your music, your money, and your silence feed a system of war, neutrality is fiction.
Massive Attack just called time on that fiction. The only question left is who’s brave enough to follow.