Live Nation to suspend concert promotions in Russia indefinitely
It's the latest development in an increasingly wide music industry boycott
By Joe Goggins
Live Nation has confirmed that it will stop promoting concerts in Russia indefinitely.
The news, confirmed by the promotions giant in a statement shared to Twitter yesterday (March 2), comes in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Live Nation has an enormous global reach, operating in over 40 countries and encompassing four major areas of the industry through Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Artist Nation Management and Live Nation Media/Sponsorship.
The statement said that Live Nation “joins the world in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and applauds all the musicians who are using their voices to promote peace”. A graphic accompanying the post displayed the Ukrainian flag along with a succinct message in all-caps: “we will not promote shows in Russia. We will not do business with Russia.” It also included the hashtag ‘#stopwarinukraine’.
Live Nation’s decision comes as part of a wider wave of rebuke to Russia as it continues its invasion of Ukraine, having launched it last Thursday (February 24). In the days since, a slew of artists have decried the war and cancelled scheduled live performances in Russia, including including Green Day, Iggy Pop, Yungblud, Louis Tomlinson, Franz Ferdinand, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Killers.
Additionally, Spotify confirmed yesterday (March 2) that it was closing its Moscow office indefinitely, in addition to removing state-sponsored content from outlets including RT and Sputnik from the platform. “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine,” the streamer’s statement read. “Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and to ensure that Spotify continues to serve as an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.”
Meanwhile, Factory Records co-founder Alan Erasmus has reportedly headed to Kyiv via Krakow to aid with the growing humanitarian crisis there. 72-year-old Erasmus reached out to DJ Dave Haslam with a heartfelt message outlining his intentions, which Haslam then shared on Twitter. Erasmus has a long history of such relief work, including having driven to Liberia to help out during the 2014 West African Ebola crisis.