Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming platform, is facing intense criticism and boycott calls following CEO Daniel Ek’s announcement of a €600m ($702m) investment in Helsing, a German defence startup specialising in AI-powered combat drones and military software.

The move, announced on 17 June, has sparked widespread outrage from musicians, activists and social media users who accuse Ek of funnelling profits from music streaming into the military industry.

Many have started calling on users to cancel their subscriptions to the service.

“Finally cancelling my Spotify subscription – why am I paying for a fuckass app that works worse than it did 10 years ago, while their CEO spends all my money on technofascist military fantasies?” said one user on X.

    • pipariturbiini@sopuli.xyz
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      12 hours ago

      If you care for sound quality, or supporting the artists (which you should!), buying the music is the best choice. My picks below:

      • CDs - if you care for physical copies; can be ripped into MP3/FLAC with a computer
      • Bandcamp - indie-oriented digital storefront
      • Qobuz download store - you’ll find more mainstream artists here.
      • CII_RX@lemm.ee
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        10 hours ago

        I apologize if this is a stupid question, but… do they still make CDs? I’m not opposed to buying a CD, but I haven’t seen one physically in a store in awhile…

      • relic4322@lemmy.ml
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        10 hours ago

        only issue is quality, but there are alternatives. streaming wise Tidal is way higher quality that spotify or yt, and there are various github pkgs out there…

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          I have to say it does quite well. Out of the 130 something songs I downloaded last session, only 3 of them were messed up, 2 had ads on them somehow and for whatever reason Hearts Burst Into Fire starts out with people chanting Berlin. Maybe I’ll look at what you’re hinting but I love not paying for anything and I love that Symphony just asks me to contribute to the project not donate.