David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old indie-pop singer who performs as D4vd, was arrested in Austin on April 16 and charged by the LA County DA with first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and mutilation of human remains. Celeste Rivas Hernandez was 14-15 when she died; her body was found in September 2025 in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to Burke.

1. We Must Erase His Music (Industry Blackout, Kali Uchis, Laufey, Holly Humberstone)

Collaborators have already scrubbed their tracks. Streaming platforms should scrub the rest.

Artists who recorded with Burke aren't waiting for a trial. Kali Uchis pulled "Crashing" and said publicly he is "not my friend." Laufey removed "This Is How It Feels" from Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon. Holly Humberstone quietly took down "superbloodmoon." Damiano David swapped out the D4vd version of "Tangerine" on his album for a solo one. Four collaborators making the same call in a week is an industry consensus, not a rush to judgment.

The platforms are next. Industry Blackout is petitioning Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon to remove Burke's entire catalog. Their argument: streaming services "have a responsibility to curate content that aligns with societal values of respect and decency." A platform that profits from discovery algorithms does not get to claim neutrality when the discovery is of a 21-year-old charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old for months before killing her.

2. But His Streams Doubled. (Culture critics, parasocial commentators)

He was under investigation for a capital crime. His audience rewarded him with more listens.

Burke's Spotify numbers went up, not down, the week the news broke. That is a fact about his audience, not just a fact about Burke. Coverage of the case has described it as resonating "with a global generation of music fans who utilize platforms like TikTok and Spotify to build parasocial relationships with artists." Parasocial fandom doesn't discount for criminal investigations — depending on how the algorithm is tuned, it actually rewards them.

Celeste Rivas Hernandez reportedly knew Burke through online platforms before she disappeared. The same parasocial infrastructure that built Burke's career is what put a 14-year-old in his orbit in the first place. Pulling his catalog after the arrest doesn't answer the more uncomfortable question: what does it say about the audience that news of a murder investigation sent streams UP? The platforms can remove the music tomorrow. The fandom that drove the streams will still be there.

3. Charged Is Not Convicted (Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, Regina Peter)

The industry scrub is running on an allegation, not a verdict. That has its own precedent problems.

Burke's defense team is pushing back hard. Attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter said in a public statement: "The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death. We will vigorously defend David's innocence." They noted no grand jury indictment has been returned. California's capital-eligible "special circumstances" charges trigger protective procedures precisely because the stakes are the highest the state has. A full trial is pending.

The seven-month gap is part of the story too. Body found September 2025, charges filed April 2026. Investigations of this complexity take time, but Burke continued to record and tour during those seven months, and the platforms continued to serve up his music. The industry consensus that Burke's career should end now — not when prosecutors had enough to charge, not when a jury rules — may not be the right choice.

Where This Lands

The industry scrub is already happening; the audience response is a culture-wide problem that removing the music doesn't solve; and the pre-trial removal is its own precedent with real costs if the case falls apart. Where this lands depends on what the evidence actually shows at trial, on whether Spotify and Apple Music act on the petition, and on whether the streams keep climbing even without the most famous tracks.

Sources