Mexican alternative band Café Tacvba is asking two of the biggest music labels to remove their catalog from Spotify.
On Wednesday, the group's singer, Rubén Albarrán, made a post on Instagram calling on his former labels Universal Music México and Warner Music México to take action.
“I delivered letters to the record labels WMM and UMM, which by contract have the rights to exploit Café Tacvba's catalogue, asking them to remove our music from the Stupidfy platform. [sic] because it contradicts our artistic vision and our personal and band ethics,” Albarrán said.
He also claimed that the streaming giant invests in weapons manufacturing, runs ads for ICE, and uses artificial intelligence in a way that is detrimental to musicians.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek leads an investment group that gave $694 million to European defense technology startup Helsing in June.
“I personally invite our fans to listen to our music on other platforms, or better yet, boycott it and not participate in the abuses of power, ongoing wars and violence.” Albarrán added. “It is time to create a new, fairer world, where music still has value, meaning, accompanies people, giving them support, joy and hope.”
Spotify responded to Albarrán's post in a statement to The Times.
“We respect Café Tacvba’s artistic legacy and Rubén Albarrán’s right to express his views, but the facts tell a different story,” a Spotify spokesperson wrote. “Spotify does not fund the war. Helsing is a separate company that has been supplying defense technology to Ukraine. Additionally, there are currently no ICE ads on Spotify; the aforementioned ads were part of a US government recruitment campaign that was spread across all major media and platforms. We are a platform for music, and our AI Policy “It focuses on protecting human artists from clones and fraud.”
In November, rolling stone reported that Spotify received $74,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to stream ICE ads, according to information obtained from several data services.
According Varietythe music streamer will stop airing ICE ads at the end of 2025. News of Spotify's contract termination came after Renee Nicole Good was killed by a federal immigration agent during an operation Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Spotify's statement to The Times also claimed that the platform pays artists more equitably than other streamers, saying: “We are proud that Café Tacvba's music has generated millions of dollars on Spotify over the years, and the reality is that Spotify continues to pay more money to more artists than any player in music history. We consistently pay 70% of our revenue to rights holders.”
According Spotify artist website.Artists on the platform should contact their label or distributor and ask them to issue a takedown request.
Universal Music Mexico and Warner Music Mexico did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
Café Tacvba burst onto the Latin rock scene with their second album, “Re,” a 20-song release from 1994. With smart, biting lyrics that addressed love, loss, hate, politics and modernism, the LP was acclaimed by the New York Times as “the equivalent of the Beatles' White Album for the Rock en Español movement.” LA Times critic Josh Kun called it “brand.” And Rolling Stone put “Re” at the top of its list. “The 10 Best Latin Rock Albums of All Time”.
The group gained even greater international recognition with their 2003 megahit, “Eres,” which received recognition at the fifth annual Latin Grammys and has also amassed more than 500 million streams on Spotify.
