A New Wave of Resistance in Music
In the long tradition of musicians raising a metaphorical fist when governments refuse to listen, a new wave of resistance is beginning to form.
Over 400 artists from around the world, led by Irish post-punk firebrands Fontaines D.C, Australian punk powerhouse Amyl & The Sniffers and the uncompromising Young Fathers, have signed onto No Music For Genocide, a campaign urging performers to block the licensing of their music in Israel.
The call is simple but forceful: music cannot provide the soundtrack to occupation and corruption.
Where stadiums once echoed with Sun City in defiance of apartheid, today’s battleground is the playlist and the sync deal, with artists refusing to have their songs repurposed as cultural cover.
Massive Attack, veterans of both political activism and sonic revolution, went further still and announced that they will pull their entire catalogue from Spotify altogether unless the platform respects artist op-outs for Israel.
For a band that has never been afraid to lace their trip-hop textures with sharp political edges, the move feels entirely in character, and bang on time.
“Silence is complicity,” their statement read, a phrase that reverberates across generations.
The breadth of support is striking.
From punk’s snarling immediacy to indie’s poetic drawl, the campaign unites artists across genre and geography.
It’s not just about refusing gigs, it’s about ensuring music cannot be weaponised as a tool of normalisation.
In Fontaines D.C’s Dublin grit and Amyl’s feral electricity lies the throughline of punk history: a refusal to look away and say something back, only louder.
No Music For Genocide is more than a slogan.
It’s a reminder that music, at its loudest and most defiant, is never just entertainment, it is resistance.
UPDATED:
A spokesperson for Spotify’s corporate communications team in Australia shared a statement in response to the article above, emphasising that Spotify and Helsing are separate entities and that Daniel Ek’s investment was made personally rather than through the company.
Spotify pointed to a comment made on Instagram by Joe from Spotify for Artists: “Spotify and Helsing are two totally separate companies. And while I can’t speak for Helsing, I’m well aware they’re not involved in Gaza. I know because I had the same questions myself, and asked. Helsing’s efforts are focused on Europe defending itself in Ukraine. If you want to talk about Spotify and royalty payouts, happy to have a conversation.”
Helsing itself issued a statement, saying: “Currently we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s technology is deployed in war zones other than Ukraine. This is not correct. Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defence against the Russian aggression in Ukraine only.”
Both statements were provided through Spotify’s Australian PR agency, which acknowledged that the company cannot comment directly on Ek’s personal investments. Happy Mag notes that while significant resources appear to be directed toward managing this controversy, we would prefer to see more of Spotify’s money going directly to artists rather than Damage Control PR campaigns.
Note by Editor.
