Sylvan Esso have put their music back on Spotify, a year after removing it in protest over CEO Daniel Ek’s €600 million investment in Helsing, a company developing drones and AI for warfare. Singer Amelia Meath framed the reversal in an Instagram video as a financial necessity, not a change of politics.
“It’s felt really good, but it’s also been incredibly hard,” Meath said of the band’s absence from the platform. “It’s become more and more apparent that if we are going to continue to employ everyone that we employ, it is unsustainable for us not to be on that platform.” She added, “I’d rather you didn’t listen to our music on there. Please don’t.”
The duo’s position reflects a wider bind for mid-level artists. Sylvan Esso released their fifth album, Ow, last week on their own label, Psychic Hotline. Without major-label infrastructure, Spotify’s reach is hard to replace; Meath put the platform’s share of streaming at 82 percent. “I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t fucking like it. And I’m really frustrated, but this is the reality.”
Meath directed fans to Bandcamp, Qobuz, Subvert, and record stores, and the band has Rough Trade East and a London show this week. The return is less a surrender than a pressure point, one that says something clear about who absorbs the cost of protest in the current streaming economy.
