There's recently been renewed focus on where money in the arts comes from and what becomes of the money swirling around the arts industry.

Should arts festivals take sponsor money from a major player in the fossil fuel industry? Should the CEO of the biggest music streaming platform in the world feel safe to invest his millions in AI military drones intended to automate the process of killing?

Spotify, despite its ubiquity, has never been looked upon kindly by artists. The music streaming giant has spent years paying musicians by the fraction of a penny, covertly adding AI-generated and in-house commissioned songs to its playlists, and writing the rules as it sees fit on how its royalty system pays out.

But now, CEO Daniel Ek has given the music world yet another reason to ditch the platform – this time, by pouring millions into playing business with high-tech war.

Last week, Australian psych-rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard yanked their entire catalog off Spotify, posting a blunt message on Instagram: “We can’t support a platform that profits from destruction”.

They’re not alone. A growing number of artists are cutting ties with Spotify after learning that Ek’s investment firm, Prima Materia, is bankrolling Helsing, a German tech startup building AI systems for military........

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