Massive Attack join Israel boycott campaign

LONDON

British trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack have joined other bands and musicians in seeking to block their tracks being streamed in Israel as part of a cultural boycott campaign over the war in Gaza.

The Bristol natives said they had joined "No Music for Genocide," a new collective of musicians modelled on the "Film Workers for Palestine" group.

Massive Attack, who have nearly eight million monthly listeners on Spotify, wrote on Instagram on Sept. 18 that they had asked their label, Universal, that "our music be removed from all... streaming services in the territory of Israel."

A website for "No Music for Genocide" says it brings together more than 400 artists and labels that "have geo-blocked and removed their music" from Israel in protest at the country's Gaza campaign.

On its website, it offers advice to artists on how to geo-block their songs to make them unavailable on streaming platforms in Israel.

Massive Attack also announced that they had asked Universal to remove all of their songs from Spotify over investments in a European defence start-up by the CEO of the Swedish streaming platform.

Daniel Ek, Spotify's co-founder and CEO, also runs a private equity company that led a consortium of investors which injected 600 million euros ($705 million) in European military artificial intelligence and drone maker Helsing in June.

Ek is also chairman of Helsing, which says on its website that its mission is "to protect our democratic values and open societies."

Massive Attack, who are long-time anti-war campaigners, criticized the links between Spotify and Helsing, saying that "the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavors of musicians funds lethal, dystopian technologies."

Like many other campaigners, Massive Attack cited the cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa as inspiration for their actions against Israel.

"Complicity with that state was considered unacceptable," the group said.

Massive Attack took part in a major concert in London last week called "Together for Palestine" featuring top British artists including indie band Bastille, Brian Eno and DJ Jamie xx.