By Ashley King, Digital Music News | A growing group of independent musicians in Chicago is removing their music from Spotify — following other artists who have pulled out. The open letter cites grave concerns about data privacy and the platform’s proliferation of unlabeled artificial intelligence (AI) music. The action comes as Seattle musicians did the same earlier this month.
The open letter signed by more than 75 Chicago musicians states, “We, the undersigned members of Chicago’s community of independent musicians, have decided to remove all of a significant portion of our discography from Spotify. While each artist comes to this decision from a different collection of beliefs and experiences, there are a few core reasons why we have chosen to leave the platform now.”
The cited reasons include Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s deep ties and investment into the AI military tech company Helsing; Spotify’s unfair and inadequate compensation model for independent artists and its consistent devaluing of music work; the proliferation and promotion of unlabeled AI music across Spotify’s platform; and Spotify’s extensive surveillance and behavioral nudging of its users towards passive listening.
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Go here to read more about Spotify’s oversight and to read the full letter here.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/more-than-75-chicago-musicians-remove-their-music-from-spotify-twin-peaks-whitney-jeff-parker-finom-more/
This story originally appeared on Digital Music News.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/09/28/chicago-musicians-remove-music-spotify/
October 2, 2025| Music-Related Business| Barb Dye