Sylvan Esso on Why They Pulled Their Music From Spotify
The band Sylvan Esso has removed its music from Spotify in protest of the company’s exploitative practices. In an exclusive interview with Jacobin, they explain their reasoning — and why the move feels so good even though it’s financially risky.
“In our wildest hopes, our decision might be one of the many dominoes that fall that make Spotify not the biggest streaming company in the world anymore,” says Nick Sanborn, pictured above with Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso. (Courtesy of Sylvan Esso)
At a time when most musicians feel trapped by the streaming economy’s brutally extractive logic, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn of the band Sylvan Esso decided to do something at once radical and surprisingly simple: they’ve taken their music off Spotify.
The indie electronic duo, whose iridescent synth-pop has garnered a loyal listener base and critical acclaim over the past decade, removed their catalog from Spotify last week, joining a small handful of other artists who’ve done the same. Their new single “WDID,” a torrential protest anthem against algorithmic overstimulation and the glittering paralysis of life in mid-scroll, is released today on their own label Psychic Hotline.
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