About a year ago, North Carolina electro-folk duo Sylvan Esso took a righteous risk, removing their catalog from Spotify in protest of founder Daniel Ek's investment in the military defense contractor Helsing. "While no solution is perfect, we simply can't continue to put our life's work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines," the band wrote at the time. Fast forward to September 2026. Last Friday, Sylvan Esso released their excellent new album Ow ∞, their first through their own label Psychic Hotline. Today, the album appeared on Spotify, as did the rest of Sylvan Esso's music.
In a video on Instagram, singer Amelia Meath explained the reversal. Meath said it had been a year since they left the platform, and it had difficult in ways they had predicted and ways they hadn't. She relayed that going forward, Sylvan Esso wouldn't be able to support the band's team without the Spotify revenue. She emphasized that the band's politics have not changed, and the video's caption said that fans can still support them on Bandcamp, Qobuz, and other non-Spotify platforms.
Here's a transcript of the video:
We have been off of Spotify for a year, and it's felt really good. It's felt really, really good. And it has also been incredibly hard. It's been incredibly hard in ways that we knew were coming and in ways that we hadn't predicted. And it has become more and more apparent that if we are going to continue to employ everyone that we employ, it is unsustainable for us to not be on that platform. So we are going to put it back up on there.
And here is what I want you to know. Nick and I's political views have not changed. We do not want to support the business of war. I don't think anyone — no one on there wants to support the business of war. It's not their fault. But yeah, I'd rather you didn't listen to our music on there. Please don't. I get that a lot of you, it's where 82% of streaming happens. I get it. Yeah, but I don't fucking like it. I don't like it, and I'm really frustrated by this reality. But the financial reality is the reality right now.
Yeah, so this is messy. I don't fucking like it. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us in not being on that platform. The amount of support and encouragement that we have received has been incredible, and I still really believe in the decision to take our music off of there. And we just can't figure out how to keep it off right now. But we're going to keep trying. I love y'all. Free Palestine.
Watch her deliver those words below.
It's hard out there for an indie band. Sylvan Esso aren't the first idealists to fight the good fight, only to return to Spotify. Just ask Neil Young. But Meath is correct that if you do want to engage with Sylvan Esso's music outside Spotify, the option is there:
