UPDATED: Spotify, Columbia Records, Warner Music Group, Capitol Music Group, and associated labels along with artists including Quincy Jones are among those joining a growing grassroots music industry campaign to pause all activity on Tuesday, June 2nd following the death of George Floyd while in police custody and the nationwide protests that followed.
By Sunday night, UMG, Sony Music, Sony/ATV, Def Jam, Elektra Music Group, Kobalt, Interscope Geffen A&M, Island, Republic, Virgin and Hypebot publisher Bandsintown had all pledged to shut down on Tuesday.
Messages began circulating using the #THESHOWMUSTBEPAUSED hashtag on Instagram and other social media platforms on Friday evening May 29th calling for “a day to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community.”
In the hours that followed many artists, record labels and others in the music industry added their support.
Overnight, Capital Music Group announced that it would “not be conducting any business” on Tuesday along with a donation to Color Of Change, a progressive non-profit that organizes campaigns “powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champion solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real.”
Warner Music Group also pledged to shut down Tuesday in solidarity and make donations to Black Live Matter and other organizations.
On Sunday, Spotify and Columbia Records formally announced that they too would shut down on Tuesday.
Spotify’s announcement came via LA based marketing and analytics Team Lead Dana Sedgwick.
More Support
Universal Music Group Ireland and other major and independent labels across the globe also expressed the support.
Other music companies including Live Nation have signaled support in the last 36 hours, but as of Sunday morning have not specifically pledged to shut down on Tuesday.
Quincy Jones was among the many artists also expressing support.
