A collective of Aotearoa musicians calling themselves Boycott Spotify NZ have announced they are joining the growing global boycott of Spotify, and are encouraging other musicians and music fans to do the same.

While Spotify have long had a reputation of low payout to artists, the collective is responding to recent revelations regarding Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s NZD$1 billion investment in AI military technology as well as the company’s “ghost artists” or “Perfect Fit Content” programme, which they say are driving musicians globally to consider their future on the platform.

Local artists Recitals, Carb on Carb and Soda Boyz, among others, have joined international artists such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu in removing their music from Spotify. Some music may remain up for a few weeks depending on various distributors. These artists have collectively prepared a statement outlining the reasons they are no longer comfortable having their music on Spotify. They also issuing a call to other artists and music fans to leave Spotify in favour of other platforms.