Milton Hide are leaving Spotify… and we’ve released a song about it! (of course)
It’s hard to find the best way to get your music heard. As you know, we’ve already quit META platforms for a variety of reasons, mainly ethical. We started listing our gigs via Bands In Town because that integrates with Spotify, but we now find ourselves once again having to leave a platform for ethical reasons (for one, not wanting to support investments in AI war drones!*).
We have now removed all of our music from Spotify, leaving only The Stream there as a protest song. The platform is not about supporting or paying artists. We get zero, only those who get an extraordinary number of plays get any kind of income. There is no limit on AI generated content. So the smaller independent artists have nothing to gain from the site that benefits financially from their music.
BUT, however you like to listen to music, streaming, downloads, video or on CD, we think we’ve got it covered. We may be coming off Spotify but you’ll find us on other platforms including TIDAL (subscription service) which has a fairer streaming policy for artists.
Of course, as policies and ethics alter on all of these platforms, our position could change again – but for now, here’s where you’ll find our music!
Look in our shop or find all links here:
The Stream is a quick impulse protest song we have released online. It was inspired by the news that Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify has invested heavily in the company Helsing (of which he is a chairman). Helsing has expanded from its origins in artificial intelligence software to produce its own war drones, aircraft and submarines.
Listen to The Stream (and buy if you like) on Bandcamp.
Lyrics:
The Stream by Milton Hide
Down by the stream
The money flows
But not for you
And not for me
Down by the stream
Listen hard
You can hear the drones of war
In your comfy chair
By the fireside
Turn the music up
And listen hard
As you drive along
With the stereo on
Turn the music up
And listen hard
*If you’d like to do a bit of reading up on Daniel Ek’s military investment (CEO of Spotify) , there’s an article on the Financial Times online (FT.com but you may need to subscribe to read it), but this article says the same thing:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/17/spotifys-daniel-ek-leads-investment-in-defense-startup-helsing.html
And for a bit more generally about why Spotify is not the best place for music and what platforms are possibly better, here’s a video you can dip in and out of:
https://youtu.be/LQRtKD4gx1k?si=REmvpH8KRVLD-K-4 (Leaving Spotify: What Every Musician Needs to Know