Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, is closing its business in Russia in light of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the company said on Wednesday.
“Live Nation joins the world in strongly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We will not promote programs in Russia and we will not do business with Russia, “said a statement from Live Nation. Rolling stone. “We are in the process of reviewing our suppliers so that we can stop working with all suppliers based in Russia.”
Live Nation joins the world in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and applauds all musicians who use their voices to promote peace. pic.twitter.com/Kgp0TQHxNw
– Live Nation (@LiveNation) March 2, 2022
Live Nation is one of the latest in the live music industry to publicly condemn Russia’s actions. Earlier this week, the developer of Oak View Group – which is also the parent company of the live music magazine Pollstar – announced that it will not work with Russia, nor will it serve Russian brands in its place. Individual tours, including Green Day, Louis Tomlinson, Yungblud and Franz Ferdinand, have canceled upcoming concerts in Russia.
In addition to live music, Live Nation was joined today by Spotify, which said it was closing the company’s offices in Russia indefinitely, adding that it “restricts the detection of Russian-owned and state-run programs” and “removes all RT and Sputnik content from Spotify in the EU and other markets. “
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine,” a Spotify spokesman said in a statement. Rolling stone. “Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and ensuring that Spotify continues to be an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.
Outside of music, major corporations such as Disney and Warner Brothers said earlier this week that they would stop releasing their films in Russia while Apple stopped selling its products in the country.
See the full Spotify statement below:
We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and ensuring that Spotify continues to be an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.
We have taken several steps in response to the crisis. We have closed our office in Russia indefinitely and provide individual support to our staff in the region, as well as to our global community of Ukrainian employees.
Our team has reviewed thousands of pieces of content since the beginning of the war and limited the availability of programs owned and operated by Russian state media. Earlier this week, we took the additional step of removing all of Spotify’s RT and Sputnik content in the EU and other markets. Today, we launched a global guide to the Spotify platform to provide our users around the world with reliable news. We believe that it is extremely important to try to maintain our service in Russia in order to allow the global flow of information.
Our employees around the world are committed to helping people affected by the war in Ukraine, and we are matching their donations two to one to support local humanitarian efforts. We are exploring additional steps we can take and will continue to do what is in the best interests of our employees and our listeners.