King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard frontman Stu Mackenzie has opened up about the band’s decision to leave Spotify over CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military tech. In a recent interview with The Guardian, he said that the Aussie rockers weren’t intent on “start[ing] a movement,” but just doing what fit with their principles.
“We have done a lot of different things over the years, but sometimes you just forget that you have free will — you can do whatever you want in these spaces,” Mackenzie said. “I don’t particularly want to try to start a movement or something like that — I’m happy if other people join. But for us, it was a decision about our music and a decision about what we think is right and what we think is not right.”
Get King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Tickets Here
He continued, “[We decided] we’re just gonna walk and deal with consequences later. Of which there have not been many… nobody seems to really care too much.”
Mackenzie explained their decision was inspired by Leah Senior, a fellow Melbourne musician who is a close collaborator with King Gizzard. “When Leah left, she and I had this one conversation about it — I told her I was really proud of her and I thought it was an awesome thing,” he recalled. “It’s kind of a beautiful thing — you look at people leaving and think ‘That’s really admirable.’ I admire the courage to do the thing that is different and also right.”
Related Video
After leaving Spotify, King Gizzard made their entire catalog available on Bandcamp under a “name your price” model. The initiative was a massive success, leading to their discography taking up the entire Top 25 of the platform’s best-selling albums section.
According to Mackenzie, this “didn’t really feel like a big move” because Bandcamp was already one of their larger platforms. “Bandcamp is actually quite a cool place, and it would be nice if we can lure some people over there [so they can] discover some other amazing music,” he said. “It’s been a really big part of King Gizzard’s story from the very beginning, and I’m happy for people who listen to our music to spend some more time there.”
Several other artists have pulled their catalogs from Spotify after Ek was revealed to be an investor in Helsing, a German company specializing in AI military tech, including Massive Attack, Deerhoof, and Xiu Xiu.
Helsing has since clarified that its technology is being used for defense purposes. “Currently we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s technology is deployed in war zones other than Ukraine,” a statement reads. “This is not correct. Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defence against the Russian aggression in Ukraine only.”
King Gizzard are currently gearing up to close out 2025 with a combination of orchestral shows and “rave sets” in the UK, Europe, and Australia, with their tour resuming on Halloween. Tickets can be purchased here.