Now More Than 1000 Musicians Are Boycotting Amazon

The number of musicians that have signed a “No Music for ICE” letter pledging a boycott of Amazon-sponsored festivals and other partnerships until the company ends support of human rights violations through contracts with ICE and other related US government agencies has now passed 1000.

Deerhoof, Ted Leo, Álex Anwandter, Immortal Technique, Speedy Ortiz, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Downtown Boys, Xenia Rubinos, Priests, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Riobamba, Evan Greer, Sheer Mag, Control Top, Diet Cig, and Jeff Rosenstock are among the more than 800 signers of  the “No Music for ICE” open letter led by Fight For The Future.

The number of musicians signing onto the campaign continues to grow hourly.

Fight for the Future is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 whose mission is to “ensure that the web continues to hold freedom of expression and creativity at its core.”

“Power without accountability is tyranny.”

– Immortal Technique

“We the undersigned artists are outraged that Amazon continues to provide the technical backbone for ICE’s human rights abuses,” write the artists, in a letter posted Thursday at NoMusicForICE.com by digital rights group Fight for the Future, and via a new Twitter account: @NoMusicForICE. 

The artists are pledging to continue the boycott until Amazon meets the following demands:

• Terminate existing contracts with the military, law enforcement, and government agencies (ICE, CBP, ORR) that commit human rights abuses
• Stop providing Cloud services & tools to organizations (such as Palantir) that power the US government’s deportation machine
• End projects that encourage racial profiling and discrimination, such as Amazon’s facial recognition product
• Reject future engagements w/ aforementioned bad actors.

“We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies,” the letter continues. “We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us.”

The letter was organized by an ad-hoc group of artists and activists including Sadie Dupuis, Evan Greer, Adult Mom, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Alex Lichtenauer, @k8_or_die, Carmen Perry of Remember Sports, and Jes Skolnik.

Musicians can sign the No Music For ICE pledge here.