Paramore joins 'No Music For Genocide' Israel boycott campaign

Paramore singer Hayley Williams has joined the 'No Music For Genocide' campaign, a growing cultural boycott urging artists to block access to their music in Israel in protest of the ongoing war on Gaza.

The initiative, launched last week, calls on musicians and record labels to geo-block their songs from streaming in Israel, arguing that culture must not "normalise states committing crimes against humanity".

Björk pulls out of Israeli platforms 

Williams and her American rock band were added to the campaign’s website this week, confirming that both her solo material and Paramore’s catalogue are no longer available to stream in Israel.

Though she has yet to issue a personal statement, the band has previously voiced support for Palestinians, launching charity merchandise lines to benefit Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and encouraging fans to donate to Save the Children who work in Gaza.

Icelandic singer Björk has also pulled most of her music from Israeli streaming platforms, though her work remains available via Bandcamp and YouTube.

Björk’s move, reported over the weekend, marked one of the highest-profile contributions to the campaign, which she joined without public comment.

A growing boycott

The No Music For Genocide campaign has already attracted more than 400 signatories within days of its launch. Major names include Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., Amyl and the Sniffers, and Kneecap.

Massive Attack announced their support by requesting that Universal Music Group, their label, block access to their catalogue in Israel. "In support of the No Music For Genocide initiative, Massive Attack have made a formal request to our record label… that our music be removed from all DSP streaming services in the territory of Israel," the band said.

The campaign points to the precedent set during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when leading record companies cut access to their catalogues in Russia. “Culture cannot stop bombs, but it can change public opinion,” the organisers said.

Irish rap trio Kneecap used their second-ever arena show at London’s OVO Wembley Arena to amplify Palestinian solidarity. Fans filled the venue with Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, while activists handed out boycott pamphlets. Hoodies sold at the show carried slogans for Irish and Palestinian liberation, tying the two struggles together.

During the concert, Massive Attack delivered a surprise audio-visual presentation on cultural resistance, tracing campaigns from apartheid South Africa to Palestine. It concluded with a call to block music platforms linked to Israel.

Hours later, Kneecap confirmed that they had requested their label Heavenly Recordings to remove all their tracks from streaming services in Israel. "As part of ‘No Music For Genocide’, we have formally requested our record label… to remove all Kneecap tracks from DSP streaming services in Israel. Free Palestine. #NoMusicForGenocide," the band said in a statement.

Other acts have already seen their music vanish from Israeli services, including Canadian band BadBadNotGood and Scottish group Young Fathers. While most signatories’ catalogues remain available because of distribution by Sony, Warner, or Universal, organisers are pressing those labels to follow through.

The campaign comes amid mounting grassroots boycotts of Israeli products and growing cultural pressure as casualty figures in Gaza climb. Israel's war on Gaza has killed 65,502 Palestinians and wounded 167,376. 

The boycott’s organisers said they aimed to make "Made in Israel" as toxic a brand as apartheid South Africa was before its fall in 1994. They stressed that sanctions should target states, not individual artists.

"This initiative is borderless and open to all artists and labels who want to boycott. We hope it sparks further efforts against the music industry’s complicity," the group said.