Café Tacvba asks its former labels to remove its music from Spotify, citing ‘band ethics’

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Café Tacvba, a popular alternative band from Mexico, is asking Spotify to remove their music, and they’ve reached out to two major record labels to help make it happen.

On Wednesday, the band’s lead singer, Rubén Albarrán, used Instagram to ask their former record labels, Universal Music Mexico and Warner Music Mexico, to address a specific issue.

According to Albarrán, he contacted WMM and UMM, the companies that control the rights to Café Tacvba’s music, and requested they remove it from the platform Stupidfy. He explained that hosting their music there went against the band’s artistic principles and values.

He further asserted that the streaming service funds weapons production, displays advertisements for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and employs artificial intelligence in a manner that harms musicians.

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With U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) running recruitment ads on platforms like Spotify and Hulu, many online activists are actively opposing the agency’s efforts.

In June, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spearheaded an investment group that provided $694 million to Helsing, a European company developing defense technology.

We encourage our fans to listen to our music wherever they prefer, or even to stop listening as a form of protest against injustice, war, and violence, as Albarrán explained. He believes it’s time to build a better, fairer world where music can once again provide genuine value, meaning, and emotional support to people – bringing joy and hope.

Spotify responded to Albarrán’s post in a statement to The Times.

Look, I get that Café Tacvba and Rubén Albarrán have every right to speak their minds, and I respect their artistic contributions. However, the facts, as Spotify presents them, paint a different picture. They’re adamant that Spotify itself isn’t funding any war efforts. The connection, they say, is through Helsing, a separate company providing defense technology to Ukraine. And regarding those ads everyone’s talking about? Spotify claims they weren’t direct ads from ICE, but rather part of a broader U.S. government recruitment drive that appeared everywhere – on every major platform, not just Spotify. Ultimately, Spotify positions itself as a platform for musicians, and their current AI policies are geared towards protecting artists from things like AI-generated clones and fraud.

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It seems the Department of Homeland Security relies on using popular music created by other artists, possibly because they struggle to create music that resonates with younger audiences.

According to Rolling Stone, Spotify accepted $74,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to run advertisements for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This information came from data obtained through multiple sources.

Variety reports that Spotify stopped running ads for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the end of 2025. This decision followed the death of Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by a federal immigration agent during an operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

In a statement to The Times, Spotify asserted that it compensates artists more fairly than its competitors. The company highlighted that Café Tacvba’s music has earned millions of dollars on Spotify and that, overall, Spotify distributes more revenue to a larger number of artists than any other music service. Spotify stated it consistently gives 70% of its income to those who own the rights to the music.

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Artists are concerned about Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in Helsing, an AI drone company. One artist went so far as to describe Spotify as a dangerous force, comparing it to a “violent armageddon portal.”

Spotify says artists who want content removed from the platform need to have their record label or distributor submit a request for them.

Representatives from Universal Music Mexico and Warner Music Mexico haven’t yet responded to a request for comment from The Times.

As a huge fan of Latin rock, I remember when Café Tacvba really exploded with their album “Re” back in ’94. It’s a 20-song masterpiece that tackles everything – love, heartbreak, politics, even just what it feels like to be modern. Critics went wild for it; the New York Times actually compared it to the Beatles’ White Album, but for the Rock en Español scene! It was called a landmark album by the L.A. Times, and Rolling Stone even put it at number one on their list of the greatest Latin rock albums ever made. It truly is a special record.

The group gained even more international fame with their 2003 hit song, “Eres.” It won an award at the fifth annual Latin Grammys and has since been streamed over 500 million times on Spotify.

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2026-01-10 04:01