Spotify removes white supremacy music after events in Charlottesville

Spotify has removed several white supremacist bands from its service, following recent events at Charlottesville in America.

Earlier this week, a music news website published a list of 37 “white power” bands which were being streamed online.

Less than 48 hours later, Spotify announced they had removed some of the bands from its service in America.

The Swedish company says it is also considering taking down the other named artists on the list.

Some of the artists named by Digital Music News are still available for streaming in the UK.

A spokesperson for Spotify in the UK tells Newsbeat “any takedowns they [Spotify] issue are effective for all markets, not just a specific country.”

“Spotify takes immediate action to remove any such material as soon as it has been brought to our attention,” says Spotify in an official statement.

“We are glad to have been alerted to this content – and have already removed many of the bands identified today, while urgently reviewing the remainder.”

Spotify also gave a second statement to Billboard magazine, which outlined its stance on offensive music.

“Illegal content or material that favours hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us,” it said.

Artists removed from Spotify had very low numbers of subscribers and play counts on the service.

Earlier this week, Reddit removed its “Physical Removal” sub-Reddit (a section of the website) because of its alt-right content.

In 2014, iTunes removed music with white supremacy messages from its download service after the Southern Poverty Law Centre (a service which monitors hate groups in America) raised the issue.

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