‘Greedy men are wrecking the place’: Welsh duo latest to quit Spotify

Molly Stubbs

Welsh indie music duo Rogue Jones have become the latest in a string of artists to remove their music from Spotify, opposing the CEO’s controversial investments and the platform’s deliberately engineered “popularity contest.”

The Carmarthenshire band, made up of married singer-songwriters Ynyr Ifan and Bethan Mai, took to social media to explain their decision.

In a bilingual Instagram post, they said they had pulled their music from the streaming service because “In a world where greedy men are wrecking the place, it’s easy to feel helpless but your voice is powerful and we need to make ripples of change whenever we can and strive for a fairer future.

“We want to take this small stand and hopefully make people think about where their money goes and to listen to music in a way that places value on it.

“Thanks to Recordiau Libertino and Recordiau Blinc for supporting our decision.”

They cited the $600m investment made by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in Helsing, a military AI company, via his venture capital firm Prima Materia, as well as Spotify’s $150,000 donation to the Trump Inauguration first reported by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

More generally, the band explained that artists’ tracks are being used to create AI music which directly competes with real artists’ work, and “Spotify is a model that encourages paying for streams & followers and getting on playlist eg Discovery Mode. This turns music into a false popularity contest where money pays for plays.”

Rogue Jones then suggested some alternatives to Spotify, including Bandcamp, Qobuz, and buying physical music from record shops or directly from artists.

 

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A post shared by Rogue Jones (@roguejonesband)

Rogue Jones join a growing number of artists distancing themselves from Spotify in protest over ethics and artist treatment, with Californian indie band Deerhoof the first to gain media attention for their decision to leave in June 2025.

Australian group King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced the removal of their tracks from the platform in July, writing on their Instagram story: “A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Eks invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform.

“Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better? Join us on another platform.”

Massive Attack also pulled their catalogue from Spotify in September after joining the No Music for Genocide campaign, becoming the first major-label group to do so.

In a statement, they explained: “In our view, the historic precedent of effective artist action during apartheid South Africa and the apartheid, war crimes and genocide now being committed by the state of Israel renders the No Music for Genocide campaign imperative.

“In the separate case of Spotify, the economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral and ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies.”

A Spotify spokesperson told the Guardian: “Spotify and Helsing are two totally separate companies.”

They also clarified that Helsing is “not involved in Gaza”, instead being “focused on Europe defending itself in Ukraine”.

Rogue Jones’ fans were supportive in the comments of their Instagram post, which has garnered just under 500 likes since it was posted on 29 October.

Comments included “Amen! 👏”, “Chwarae teg,” and “Da iawn. Fi wastad wedi gweld bod yr holl platforms ma yn dibrisio gwaith cerddorion ac mewn cyngrair a tyrants y diwyduant ar lein. (Very good. I’ve always seen that all these platforms devalue the work of musicians and are in league with tyrants who operate online.)”

Rogue Jones’ Spotify description now reads ‘Ni gadael wedi Spotify/We’ve left Spotify’, with only their 2023 single Triongl Dyfed available to play. To listen to their acclaimed music, visit the duo’s Bandcamp here or their Qobuz here.