Xiu Xiu Pulls Their Music From Spotify Following Deerhoof’s Lead—Is This the Start of a Bigger Pullout?

Photo Credit: Xiu Xiu (Instagram)

Xiu Xiu plans to pull their music from Spotify, taking a page from Deerhoof’s book. The bands’ exodus stems from Daniel Ek’s AI military investments.Experimental rock band Xiu Xiu (pronounced “Shoo Shoo”) has announced their intention to remove their music from Spotify. The move stems from news that Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek’s investment fund, Prima Materia, led a round of investment in Helsing, a defense company that sells software that uses AI to inform military decisions.

“We are currently working to take all of our music off of garbage hole violent Armageddon portal Spotify. It is taking longer than we had hoped due to procedurally [sic] complications but will be completed soon,” the band wrote on Instagram. “Thanks for the support and patience. For all the reasons you already know—please cancel your subscription with Spotify!”

According to a representative of the band who spoke to Pitchfork, Xiu Xiu “have been working on this for about a month, and the hope is that almost everything will be off next week.” They added that their labels, Polyvinyl, Kill Rock Stars, and Graveface have all been “supportive” in helping the band remove its music from the platform.“We are removing our music from Spotify specifically and encouraging people to cancel their subscriptions because of their investment in AI war drones,” said Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart. “Although the financial practices of all streaming services is acutely anti-musician, the actions of Spotify to use the profits they made from essentially stealing music in order to murder people to make even more money is almost beyond comprehension.”

Xiu Xiu’s move comes on the heels of indie band Deerhoof’s announcement last month of their intention to remove their music from Spotify. They also cited Prima Materia’s investments as a major factor in their decision to leave the streaming platform.

Prima Materia has actually been investing in Helsing since 2021. The new round of funding clocks in at around $693.6 million.