In late October, hundreds of artists signed an open letter urging other members of the music community to boycott festivals and events sponsored by Amazon. Amazon Web Services has contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other branches of law enforcement. The artists supporting the No Music For ICE movement aim to abandon support of Amazon until the company pledges to terminate existing contracts with government agencies that commit human rights abuses and end projects that encourage racial profiling and discrimination (such as Amazon’s facial recognition product).
In a new escalation, musicians such as Speedy Ortiz, Deerhoof, Downtown Boys, La Neve, Adult Mom, Told Slant, Harry and the Potters, Evan Greer, Dan Friel, and others have pulled their music from Amazon Music. “We’re calling on musicians & labels who oppose ICE’s human rights abuses to join us during the holiday season,” the collective’s new statement reads. “Mass takedowns will begin on Black Friday and continue throughout Amazon’s all-important holiday shopping season.” There’s a guide for how to pull music from the service.
In addition to the aforementioned musicians, over 1,000 artists have signed the original petition boycotting Amazon events, including Car Seat Headrest, Camp Cope, Chastity Belt, Deerhoof, DIIV, Girlpool, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Jay Som, Jeff Rosenstock, Landlady, of Montreal, Shamir, Sheer Mag, Ted Leo, the Black Madonna, Vivian Girls, Zola Jesus, and more.
A week before the No Music for ICE campaign was launched, the Black Madonna took to Twitter to express her outrage upon learning that Las Vegas’ Intersect Music Festival (at which she was meant to perform), is sponsored by Amazon Web Services. “What the fuck is this Amazon shit,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “I absolutely did not agree to this. Oh hell no.” The Black Madonna was eventually released from her contract with the festival. JPEGMAFIA is no longer on the festival’s lineup; his representatives offered no comment. The festival is scheduled for December 6-7.