"Spotify faces boycott calls over CEO’s investment in AI military startup", 26 June 2025

Spotify...is facing intense criticism and boycott calls following CEO Daniel Ek’s announcement of a €600m ($702m) investment in Helsing, a German defence startup specialising in AI-powered combat drones and military software...

Many have started calling on users to cancel their subscriptions to the service...

In 2021, many users and artists called for a similar boycott after Ek announced a €100m investment in the company.

Middle East Eye contacted Spotify and Ek for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication...

Many users expressed frustration that Spotify's CEO was pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into warfare technology while continuing to pay artists notoriously low royalties.

The United Musicians and Allied Workers, a union of musicians who have organised and demonstrated for better royalties at Spotify, called Ek "a warmonger who pays artists poverty wages"...