In a dramatic move, Massive Attack have removed their catalogue from Spotify in protest at chief executive Daniel Ek’s £520 million investment in the military artificial intelligence company Helsing – making them the first major-label act to take such a step.
Massive Attack have removed their catalogue from Spotify in protest at chief executive Daniel Ek’s £520 million investment in the military artificial intelligence company Helsing – making them the first major-label act to take such a step.
The group, whose members Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall are longstanding political activists, said they could not continue to have their music available on a platform whose founder was profiting from battlefield technologies.
Mr Ek is also chairman of Helsing, whose AI software interprets sensor and weapons data for military decision-making and whose HX-2 drone is built for frontline combat.
His venture capital firm, Prima Materia, led Helsing’s latest funding round in June.
Massive Attack said in a statement: “The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral and ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies.
“Enough is more than enough. Another way is possible.”
The decision coincides with Massive Attack joining No Music for Genocide, a campaign backed by more than 400 artists and labels calling for music to be blocked from streaming in Israel.
In their announcement, the band emphasized that their removal from Spotify was separate from that initiative, though they described both actions as morally urgent.
Spotify, which is headquartered in Stockholm, pushed back at the criticism.
A company spokesperson said: “Spotify and Helsing are two totally separate companies. Helsing is not involved in Gaza and its work is focused on Europe defending itself in Ukraine.”
Helsing itself also rejected the claims.
In a statement, the company said: “Currently we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s technology is deployed in war zones other than Ukraine. This is not correct.
“Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defense against the Russian aggression in Ukraine only.”
Massive Attack join an expanding list of artists leaving Spotify in protest at Mr Ek’s defense sector ties. Among them are Australian psych group King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, US acts Deerhoof and Hotline TNT, and Manchester band Wu Lyf.
Unlike those groups, however, Massive Attack cannot shift their work to the alternative platform Bandcamp, which is only available to independent-label artists.
The Bristol group also used Instagram to highlight their support for No Music for Genocide.
They said: “In 1991 the scourge of apartheid violence fell from South Africa, aided from a distance by public boycotts, protests, and the withdrawal of work by artists, musicians and actors. Complicity with that state was considered unacceptable. In 2025 the same now applies to the genocidal state of Israel
The No Music for Genocide campaign features artists such as MJ Lenderman, Amyl and the Sniffers, Rina Sawayama, Jockstrap, KeiyaA, John Glacier, Erika de Casier, Smerz, Wednesday, Nourished by Time, Mike, Yaeji and Faye Webster.”
Massive Attack remove catalogue from Spotify in military AI protest
