Spotify removes pro-war Russian artists from platform

Spotify has removed the music and profiles of artists known to be in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine from its platform, Billboard Reports.

Among artists suspended include the band Lyube, and singers Grigory Leps, Oleg Gazmanov, Shaman and Polina Gagarina, amongst others. The Moscow Times reports that many of the artists impacted have already been the subject of EU sanctions introduced in 2022 when the war began.

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At the time of being issued, the sanctions had listed Shaman as having “repeatedly participated in Kremlin-organized concerts," and performing "concerts in the illegally occupied regions of Ukraine."

Similarly, pop singer Gragarina was listed as having generated “significant revenue” from state-sponsored events celebrating the annexation of Crimea.

In 2022, the streaming giant closed its Moscow office “indefinitely” following the outbreak of the war, announcing that it would be providing support to their “personnel in Moscow” as well as their “global community of Ukrainian employees."

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However the platform said that it would keep the service operational to allow for the “global flow of information."

In a letter sent to the Moscow Times, Spotify said: “Platform rules clearly state that we take action when we identify content which explicitly violates our content policies or local laws. Upon review, these artists met the threshold for removal.”

Jamaal Johnson is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Instagram