North Carolina electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso are back today with a new single, but you won't be able to listen to it on Spotify. "WDID" is Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn's first original music since 2022, and it's also the first song of theirs to be released on the label they founded a few years ago, Psychic Hotline. And now that Sylvan Esso are finally releasing their music on their own label, they're making a big executive decision about where to make it available.
Meath and Sanborn shared this in a statement:
As we prepare to release new music, we have to decide what we want to be a part of and what we don't. To that end, with Sylvan Esso being on our own label for the first time, we have decided to remove our music from Spotify. While no solution is perfect, we simply can't continue to put our life's work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines.
reaching towards the world we all deserve, even though we are not in it yet.
And with that, Sylvan Esso's studio albums are no longer on Spotify as of today. They join the likes of Massive Attack, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hotline TNT, WU LYF, Young Widows, and more who are fleeing Spotify in the aftermath of CEO Daniel Ek's massive investment in military AI.
"WDID" is a fitting response, echoing the disorienting experience of doomscrolling TikTok, being sold products one second before seeing clips of tragedy the next: "It’s a skin care cream!/ It’s a penny on the ground!/ It’s the northern lights!/ It’s wreckage all around!/ It’s a genocide!/ It’s a Burger King crown," Meath chants over an abrasive, post-hyperpop beat. Listen to "WDID" below.
Meanwhile at Spotify, the company announced today that on January 1, Ek will transition to the role of Executive Chairman, while current co-Presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström will be its co-Chief Executive Officers. According to a press release: "As Executive Chairman, Ek’s role will more closely reflect a European Chairman setup, where he will determine capital allocation, map the long term future of Spotify and continue to provide support and guidance to its senior team."
