Godspeed You! Black Emperor is the most recent act to take away their music from Spotify.
Over the previous few months, many artists together with Chad VanGaalen, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu have eliminated their music from Spotify. Along with qualms spherical royalty funds, many artists have cited army investments made by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek by his funding fund Prima Materia. Since 2021, Prima Materia has been investing in Helsing, a protection firm that sells AI software program to tell army selections. One track, a compilation observe known as “Outro,” is all that is still on Spotify.
Godspeed! has gone a number of steps additional, eradicating almost its whole discography from all main streaming providers, together with Tidal and Amazon Music.
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Two of the long-running Canadian post-rock band’s albums on American unbiased document label Kranky — 1998’s F# A# ∞ and 2000’s Carry Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven — are nonetheless up on Apple Music — however that’s additionally set to vary quickly.
“Kranky has all the time granted artists management over how their music is offered and disseminated,” a consultant shared with Pitchfork, confirming that Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s remaining albums are within the means of being faraway from the platform.
The band’s whole catalog continues to be available for purchase and stream through Bandcamp.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor have had two albums on the Billboard 200, however they’ve had much more influence on gross sales charts. The group has earned 5 albums on Billboard’s Prime Album Gross sales, together with 2021’s G_d’s Pee At State’s Finish, which peaked at No. 8. 5 albums have charted on the Vinyl Albums chart, with 2012’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! hitting No. 1.
That album gained Canada’s Polaris Music Prize in 2012, however the band didn’t present as much as obtain the award, utilizing the $30,000 prize to launch and fund a program to supply musical devices to prisoners in Quebec.
The band’s label Constellation confirms that Godspeed! requested their catalog be faraway from all digital platforms besides Bandcamp, and says the band and label haven’t any additional remark.
Although the band hasn’t shared their precise cause for eradicating their music or whether it is associated to Ek’s army investments, they’ve usually espoused anti-capitalist and anti-war views. Their most up-to-date album, 2024’s No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Useless, was titled after the dying toll of Palestinians, as reported by Gaza’s Well being Ministry, in Israel’s warfare in Gaza.
In an announcement accompanying the album, the band wrote:
“THE PLAIN TRUTH==
we drifted by it, arguing.
each day a brand new warfare crime, each day a flower bloom.
we sat down collectively and wrote it in a single room,
after which sat down in a special room, recording.”
This text was initially revealed by Billboard Canada.
