My Bloody Valentine, Denzel Curry and other musicians have thrown their support behind the ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign – find out more below.
The ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign is a cultural boycott initiative that encourages artists and rights-holders to pull their music from streaming platforms in Israel in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has seen widespread starvation and staggering numbers of civilian deaths, estimated to be well over 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
To join the coalition, the artists involved have edited their own release territories or sent geo-block requests to their distributor or label. They are encouraging major label groups Sony, UMG, and Warner to follow suit, particularly given that they blocked their entire catalogues from Russia and closed operations there a month into their invasion of Ukraine.
Yesterday, the initiative took to social media to announce a slew of new musicians who have joined the boycott movement. These artists include My Bloody Valentine, Denzel Curry, Shygirl, Paris Paloma, Vacations, Innervisions and YHWH Nailgun.
Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., Amyl & The Sniffers, and Kneecap were among the first leading names to join the initiative in September, and were soon joined by Paramore, Rina Sawayama, MIKE, Primal Scream, Faye Webster, Japanese Breakfast, Yaeji, King Krule, MJ Lenderman, Mannequin Pussy, Wednesday, Soccer Mommy and MØ.
Other major names to have thrown their weight behind ‘No Music For Genocide’ include Björk, Lorde, IDLES, MUNA, Paloma Faith, Clairo, Wolf Alice, Lucy Dacus and AURORA.
Last month, the estate of the late Ryuichi Sakamoto joined the coalition and removed his music from streaming in Israel, writing at the time: “To the extent possible, the Estate has removed or issued formal requests to labels to remove his music from all DSP (streaming and download) services in Israel. For much of his catalog, this has already taken effect.”
Israel has continually reject accusations it is waging genocide, and denies committing any war crimes, maintaining that its operations are lawful acts of self-defence following Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1100 people and saw 250 taken as hostages.