Spotify removes white supremacist bands from site

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Spotify removed several bands from its app Wednesday after a report revealed the bands appeared on a "hate music" list compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Digital Music News identified 27 bands on SPLC's 2014 hate music list were available to be streamed on Spotify. SPLC said the bands were popular among neo-Nazis and white supremacist crowd in Europe and the United States.

Shortly after the Digital Music News report was published, Spotify removed them from its app.

"Spotify takes immediate action to remove any such material as soon as it has been brought to our attention," the streaming service said in a statement. "We are glad to have been alerted to this content - and have already removed many of the bands identified today, whilst urgently reviewing the remainder."

Spotify told Billboard that as the company looks to remove more music that might fall into the category of "hatecore," it will also push a new playlist called Patriotic Passion, which includes Jimi Hendrix's famous guitar solo of the Star Spangled Banner, Lady Gaga's Americano and Khalid's American Teen.

"It's a soundtrack to an America worth fighting for," a Spotify spokeswoman said.

Spotify is one of several online companies removing white supremacist products from their site.

ApplePay and PayPal removed white supremacist merchandise sold via its services, reported Buzzfeed.

In 2014, Apple also removed from its AppleMusic service several bands identified as hate music by SPLC.