Streaming and social media platforms have made musicians more accessible to their fans than ever before. But sometimes, artists don’t want the support. Just take it from the ones who recently asked controversial YouTuber Pewdiepie not to listen to their music.
The verified Spotify page of Pewdiepie AKA Felix Kjellberg AKA ‘the world’s most famous YouTuber’ recently went public. Fans were surprised to discover that Pewdiepie has been listening to electro hip hop duo 100 Gecs, Swedish rapper Yung Lean, post-metal band Deafheaven and more.
Some of the artists were also surprised to find out Pewdiepie was listening to them and took to social media to share their thoughts.
Electro act Gupi AKA Spencer Hawk, the son of pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, told his his followers, “just woke up, found out Pewdiepie listens to me and others, Pewdiepie please don’t listen to my music. Okay, back to bed.”
He later referenced one of his older Tweets which read, “We neeeeed a streaming block list.”
When Gupi’s followers asked why people “hate” Pewdiepie and suggested he “accept the clout”, the 21-year-old responded, “Maybe stop listening to my music too.”
Fraxiom, another artist who has collaborated with Gupi, weighed in on Pewdiepie’s playlist by asking how the YouTuber could listen to their track ‘Thos Moser’ and hear the lyrics “f*ck Notch f*ck Elon Musk” and “be like, ‘haha epic song! Smirking face.’”
Vice reports that Notch – the creator of Minecraft – was removed from the game’s loading screen and 10-year anniversary in 2019 after posting tweets referencing “hetrosexual pride day” and that “it’s OK to be white.”
Speaking of controversial YouTubers, hear about the latest Jeffree Star saga below:
NYC-based artist Umru, who has worked with Charli XCX, also took to Twitter to ask their followers “how do you ban your music from a single Spotify user” after noticing Pewdiepie listening to his remix of 100 Gecs’ ‘Ringtone’.
It’s really no surprise these artists don’t want Pewdiepie listening to their songs. Since starting his YouTube channel in 2010, he’s made offensive comments about sexual violence, joining ISIS, landed in hot water for promoting Nazi imagery, dropping racial slurs, mocking Demi Lovato’s overdose – all the while claiming “it’s just a joke.”
The full impact of Pewdiepie’s problematic behaviour was realised in 2019, when the Christchurch mosque shooting perpetrator said “subscribe to Pewdiepie” following his violent rampage.
Sadly, it doesn’t sound like there is any way for these artists to block Pewdiepie from listening to their music but they aren’t alone in their feelings about the contentious YouTube star.
Always be in the loop with our snackable podcast breaking the biggest story of the day. Subscribe to It’s Been A Big Day For… on your favourite podcast app.