On September 22, Chicago musicians Austin Koenigstein, who performs as Smushie, and Sam Cantor, known as Minor Moon, made headlines with an open letter calling for their fellow artists to withdraw their music from Spotify. This initiative springs from several critical issues, such as the platform’s meager payouts to artists, financial connections to an AI military technology firm, and a tendency to inundate its users with AI-generated content. Furthermore, the letter highlights Spotify’s practices of user surveillance and manipulation, all of which have sparked a significant backlash within the artistic community.
The letter quickly gained traction, attracting the support of 36 local musicians, including notable acts like the jazz trio Twin Talk and rapper Mykele Deville. Others like Half Gringa’s Izzy Olive and multi-instrumentalist Matt Gold also lent their voices to the campaign. The letter concludes with a hopeful sentiment: “We hope our action can serve as a small step towards a future that centers our shared humanity when it comes to making and sharing music with one another.” This growing protest aims to inspire creativity and foster better alternatives to the current
image source from：chicagoreader
