Godspeed You! Black Emperor are the latest indie-rockers to pull their music from Spotify. However, the Canadian post-rock band have gone one step further and removed nearly their entire discography from all major streaming services. Pitchfork has reached out to the band’s label, Constellation Records, for comment.
Currently, no Godspeed You! Black Emperor records are available to stream on Spotify or Tidal. The band’s two albums for Kranky—1998’s F# A# ∞ and 2000’s Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven—are still up on Apple Music, but a representative for the label confirmed to Pitchfork that they are in the process of being taken down. “Kranky has always granted artists control over how their music is presented and disseminated,” they shared in a statement. Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s catalog can still be purchased and streamed via Bandcamp.
Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have all left Spotify in the last two months. All three groups cited the military investments made by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek through his investment fund Prima Materia. Since 2021, Prima Materia has been investing in Helsing, a defense company that sells software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to inform military decisions.
Last year, Godspeed You! Black Emperor shared the album “No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead”, named for what was, at the time, the Palestinian death toll of Israel’s war in Gaza as reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Read about “No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead” at No. 27 on “The 50 Best Albums of 2024.”
