At the least 9 rock or metallic bands eliminated their music from Spotify in 2025, with a lot of them transferring off the platform prior to now six months.
The explanations behind these strikes embrace every part from issues over artist compensation to Spotify co-founder, chairman and CEO Daniel Ek’s different firm (Prima Materia) securing a number of hundred million {dollars} in investments to advance A.I. drone weaponry for navy use. The streaming platform has additionally been scrutinized for operating recruitment adverts for I.C.E., the U.S. authorities company going through a number of lawsuits for illegal arrests and deportations, inhumane detention circumstances in addition to use of extreme power towards U.S. residents.
READ MORE: See the 2025 Spotify Wrapped Stats For 11 Massive Rock + Steel Bands
Here’s a breakdown of all the rock and metallic bands that left Spotify in 2025 and the place you may nonetheless stream their music.
Deerhoof
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: Deerhoof exited Spotify in June, one thing the band referred to as “a reasonably straightforward resolution” in a press release posted on its social media. The primary catalyst for eradicating their music was Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s Prima Materia firm investing in Helsing. The corporate is thought for its protection expertise used to hold out drone strikes and surveillance.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Bandcamp
What they stated about leaving Spotify: Nothing. The Canadian band has but to make any formal assertion in regards to the removing of its music from all main streaming platforms in August. Bandcamp is the one remaining service presently the place you may stream music from Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Hotline TNT
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: In August, Hotline TNT vocalist and guitarist Will Anderson posted a press release on the band’s Instagram that stated, “The corporate that payments itself as a steward of all recorded music has confirmed past the shadow of a doubt that it doesn’t align with the band’s values in any approach.” No specifics got as to how Spotify would not align with Hotline TNT’s values.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Getty Pictures for Coachella
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: “I do know it is unfair, and I do know they’re banking a lot. However for me personally, I simply need to make music and I need folks to have the ability to hearken to it,” King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard founding member Stu Mackenzie instructed the Los Angeles Occasions after the band eliminated its music from Spotify in July. “The onerous half was to take that away from so many individuals.”
The band particularly cited Ek’s ties to AI-powered weapons expertise as the rationale for eradicating their music from the platform.
My Bloody Valentine
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: In contrast to a lot of the different acts on this record, My Bloody Valentine did not nuke their total catalog on Spotify. The shoegaze band eliminated 1988’s Is not Something and 1991’s Loveless from Spotify for American customers in September. My Bloody Valentine’s 2013 album, m b v, continues to be up on the platform. The band has but to remark publicly on the albums’ removing.
Saetia
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: New York Metropolis-based screamo act Saetia offered a protracted record of causes behind their Spotify exit in October.
“Whether or not it is operating ICE recruitment ads or paying artists fractions of pennies on the greenback whereas subsidizing voices like Joe Rogan, we simply felt it was time to separate our music from their message,” the band stated in a prolonged assertion posted to Instagram. “To be clear, Saetia is just not against accessing music on streaming platforms.”
Swing Children
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: Submit-hardcore act Swing Children reunited to play a handful of reveals in 2025. However simply because the band was again collectively did not imply they felt compelled to depart their music on Spotify.
In a press release shared with Lambgoat in November, Swing Children stated the streaming “contradicts” what the band is about. “To be a part of a machine that helps and funds weapons of destruction, that abuses artists, and actively encourages the recruitment of brokers for fascism, is one thing that we can’t be blind to.”
Xiu Xiu
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: In July, experimental rock act Xiu Xiu began eradicating their music from Spotify, which the band referred to as a “rubbish gap violent armageddon portal” at the moment.
As with others on this record, Xiu Xiu particularly cited “AI struggle drones” as the primary motive for taking their music off the streaming service. “Our resolution could also be imperfect, hypocritical, might not make a giant distinction, however that’s most of human life and selections.”
Younger Widows
The place you may nonetheless stream their music: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal
What they stated about leaving Spotify: Younger Widows referred to as experiences of Ek’s investments in Helsing the “breaking level” that led to them eradicating their music from Spotify in September.
“To assume our followers’ cash is getting used to put money into future machines to kill the harmless is past inhumane,” Younger Widows stated in a press release shared to Instagram. They went on to say that every one music streaming platforms have their negatives. “So we implore you, should you really worth an artist, purchase their information, go to their reveals, help them instantly.”
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