Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

by Liz Pelly

It matters that Daniel Ek has used his fortunes from Spotify, in part, to invest in AI militarism, through a 100 million euro investment in the German military-AI company Helsing, putting that company’s valuation at 400 million euro. Helsing alleges to use its software to “assist battlefield operations” by using live data to “identify and assess multiple collected forms of data via sensors in order to assemble a picturesque viewpoint which military agents could then use at their discretion.” Ek sits on the board of Helsing, and has publicly advocated for the expansion of investment in its technology. In 2022, he coauthored an op-ed for Politico arguing in favor of what he dubbed “New Defense,” urging for a new wave of AI military companies. The piece was riddled with tech-culture buzzwords, calling out the need for defense contractors to be “digital natives” with “agile and iterative development practices.” It should go without saying that many musicians would prefer the profits made from circulating their work did not fuel the war machine, as was evidenced most recently by the United Musicians and Allied Workers’ 2024 “War Profiteers Out of Music” campaign.13