Right-Wing Bands on Spotify

[MustardMan1]

Hi everyone. In the last weeks I have been digging around and searching for bands on Spotify which directly or indirectly support right wing ideologies.

I use Spotify daily and enjoy it very much, however I see the large amount of artists on this platform belonging to and promoting either extreme right-wing ideas or "only" populist right-wing themes as a big big problem.

All in all I managed to find sixty-nine artists that by my definition belong to the right-wing spectrum.

Spotify is today used to a very large extend by young adults, almost everyone is using Spotify from the age of 15/16 today. Young adults are very easy to influence in that age and Spotify has to understand what responsibility it has when it enables artists to promote hatred and right-wing ideology on its platform. There just cannot be any space for right-wing artists to promote their songs (and earn money) on the biggest streaming-platform of the world.

I have informed Spotify about the bands I could find but I am at the same time sure that I have only scratched the surface, I just have no idea about the right-wing scene in asia for example.

The reason why I wanted to make a post here was to show anyone interested my list of artists which I consider to be on the political right and which infringe on the guidelines set by Spotify and thus should be taken down from the platform.

I am sure that not everyone will agree on all of these artists since most artists nowadays refrain from explicitly stating their political views either to reach a wider audience or to evade censorship. This leaves room for interpretation and discussion.

I urge Spotify to take action and delete as many artists as possible on the list since they do nothing but spread hatred and violence.

[nathan1_]

Meanwhile I was going to complain the opposite. Spotify is already engaging in the same tired culture of deleting and blocking content that doesn't suit your political ideology.

None of the content being removed is illegal, at all. Let alone music you don't like. What a completely absurd situation.

If you don't like some music or podcasts don't listen to it. Not everyone is as susceptible as you are to the content they listen to.

[MustardMan1]

Hello nathan1_ !

I am very happy that you took the time to read my post, I hope you could check out my attached list as well!

I understand that some may have different opinions on this, I only wanted to reply to different aspects of your comment:

First of all I don't really understand your notion that, as you mentioned, Spotify is engaging in any kind of "tired culture"? I think for Spotify it is very important to know what kind of artists are accessible through its platform and I think it is very interesting to see how a company as big as Spotify deals with these problems, don't you?

Secondly, you are right with the claim that none of the music in question is illegal, as far as I know most of the artists have all recorded their music on a legal basis in their countries. What most people seem to overlook or maybe forget is that Spotify is a company which has its rules and guidelines. One of those is for example the prohibition of illegal content which categorically bans all music from the platform which has been banned from further distribution.

Another guideline Spotify has set for itself is the prohibition of hate content. This includes all music that "expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, **bleep**, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability". You can read more about it here: https://artists.spotify.com/faq/music#what-content-is-prohibited-on-spotify.

In my view the artists in question do break against this rule, although as I tried to make clear in my first post, some maybe do more clearly than others.

I don't really understand where you got the notion that the music is illegal as I never mentioned it, I hope I could clear that up!

As for your last remark I can promise you that I had my fair share of listening when I compiled my list so you don't have to worry about me listening to it anymore! 🙂 I have to assume that you are right, not everyone is equally susceptible, some are more and some are less. Some understand and can critically question and validate the music they hear, like you and me, but some cannot. As studies show music is an integral part of young adults growing up and can function as a gateway to radical communities. If you want to read more about it I can only provide you with this English-written link  from DW: https://www.dw.com/en/far-right-music-is-gateway-to-extremist-scene/a-15766177.

Another interesting read is Jonathan Pieslak - Radicalism and Music: An Introduction to the Music Cultures of Al-Qa'ida, Racist Skinheads, Christian-Affiliated Radicals, and Eco-Animal Rights Militants.

If you can understand it I can also provide you with lots of German-written articles!

I hope I could make it clear why I think Spotify is doing right in deleting the artists and why "just not listening to it" is not enough. Thank you again for your comment!

[Coffee1]

There's many more lefties

Whether you like i or not, censorship is very bad. Everyone has the God given right to express their views. Would you rather have book burnings and imprisonment for airing an opinion ? 

[jimka]

This is just outright crazy.

So, now I guess I know who to blame for Nocturnal Mortum and Kroda disappearing from Spotify.

Unfortunately, I've subscribed to premium right before this madness come true (I will definitely not renew it, until they come to their senses in this regard).

I understand the desire to please the investors, and follow the political main stream, but that's not how the culture works. You can't just arbitrarily decide who to ban based on their political views you don't like.

Today, you name 'right-wing' as bad. 

Tomorrow, I'll name 'left-wing' as evil (which is also true, and the Soviet Communist party is also banned in some countries, because of its long history of genocide and mass murder).

The other day, the 'center' will be doomed.

Next, we ban all the 'death' and 'black' metal scene, then the Rap and Russian chanson, etc, etc...

And what shall we have left then?

To sum it up, I'm super disappointed.

[Barkbåt]

So you are the reason why I cannot listen to "Tors Vrede" anymore on Spotify?

This kind of behavior you have shown really sickens me.
I think it's totally morally reprehensible what you are doing, trying to decide what kind of music other people are allowed to listen to, and to be frank I think it only shows of weakness, insecurity and immature of a person.

I can only hope Spotify will be consequent in their act and starts to delete all leftwing propaganda music, which is a lot out there.

[jimka]

Very little chance, bro.
That's the reason I've quit my paid Spotify subscription (greetings to investors 🙂 ), and I suspect I'm not the only one doing that until they sort out their censorship madness.
I could even understand banning some songs for the 'super explicit' content (in their opinion) - that would also make me angry, but still.
But banning the whole band because of some 'politically incorrect' song in who-knows-what-year - that's a whole new level of madness and censorship.