Veteran singer-songwriter and composer David Bridie is the latest addition to a growing list of musicians to pull their music from streaming giant Spotify in protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in defence technology.

David Bridie. Photo © Keith Saunders/Piano+

“We can’t keep handing our creativity, our loyalty and our cash to amoral tech giants who see music as content and war as business. I’d rather earn nothing than profit from destruction,” Bridie wrote in a piece for The Guardian today.

In June, German defence tech company Helsing announced it had raised more than €600m in funding ($1.07 bn AUD) in an investment led by Prima Materia, an investment firm co-founded by Ek. He joined the company’s board in 2021, following a €100m investment from Prima Materia.

Helsing specialises in the integration of artificial intellegence in defence technologies like drones and surveillance technologies.

“In recent years, we’ve witnessed the horror of AI drone wars in Ukraine and Gaza – children killed and hospitals destroyed with the press of the space bar. Ek is investing in technology that can cause suffering and death,” wrote Bridie.

“I don’t want my songs – some written with...