Warner, Universal, Sony Music suspend activities in Russia
Los Angeles, Mar 10 (EFE).- Warner Music and Sony Music, two of the world’s most important record companies, will halt all marketing and sales in Russia in protest over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The pair join Universal Music, the other big international music firm, which halted its activities early this week and closed its offices in Russia, although it continues to pay its employees there.
Warner Music – which manages the careers of artists like Madonna, Coldpay and Joni Mitchell – said in a statement that the interruption in its business activities means suspending all its development projects, marketing activities and the manufacture of all physical products.
“We will continue to fulfill our agreed upon obligations to our people, artists, and songwriters as best we can as the situation unfolds,” the company said in its statement. “We remain committed to supporting the humanitarian relief efforts in the region.”
Sony Music – the Latino division of which manages Shakira, Rosalia and Enrique Iglesias – added in its own statement that besides suspending its operations it “will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.”
The music industry has joined the sanctions on Russia announced by other entertainment and technology firms around the world.
Live Nation, a giant in the concert and show production industry, will not organize concerts in Russia and the Spotify platform will close its Russian office indefinitely and cancel all subscriptions in the country, where it has more than 1.5 million customers.
In addition, many bands and singers – including The Killers, Green Day and Iron Maiden – have cancelled their shows in Russia.
Meanwhile, Amazon, which also has its own musical platform, blocked new access to its cloud services in Russia and Belarus.
The firm joins other big firms who have also announced the suspension of their business endeavors in Russia, including Apple, Mcdonald’s, Coca-Cola and several big Hollywood film studios such as Disney, Netflix, Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, which will not screen their films in that country.
EFE romu/pamp/jrh/bp
