Barclays suspends fest sponsorships amid protests

Barclays has suspended its sponsorship of Live Nation UK’s remaining 2024 festivals following a raft of artist withdrawals over the bank’s ties to Israel.

Pest Control, Scowl, Speed and Zulu pulled out of this weekend’s Download Festival, with Pillow Queens, CMAT, Mui Zyu and Georgia Ruth dropping out of July’s Latitude 2024 earlier this month and The Waeve cancelling their slot at Isle of Wight Festival.

Barclaycard became headline partner of Isle of Wight and Latitude in 2023 as part of its partnership renewal with Live Nation UK. The five-year extension also included collaborations with events including TGE, Download, Lytham Festival, Camp Bestival and Reading & Leeds.

“Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals,” says a Live Nation spokesperson.

Previously, more than 100 speakers and acts pulled out of March’s SXSW, held in Austin, Texas, in protest at the event’s sponsorship by the US Army and its support for Israel during the Gaza war, while a similar number of acts withdrew from the UK’s The Great Escape (TGE) due to the Brighton event’s Barclays sponsorship. Massive Attack, Idles and Brian Eno were among dozens of acts who were not booked to play at TGE but signed an open letter launched in April calling for it to drop Barclays as a partner.

A spokesperson for Barclays tells the Guardian: “Barclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected and their tickets remain valid. The protesters’ agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe.

“The only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions”

“They have resorted to intimidating our staff, repeated vandalism of our branches and online harassment. The only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions. It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against this.”

The publication notes that it understands the suspension does not apply to the entire contract.

Pressure has been directed towards the festivals to cut ties with sponsors linked to Israel, with campaigners and artists pressuring other musicians not to perform at them.

“This is a victory for the Palestinian-led global BDS movement,” says protest group Bands Boycott Barclays following today’s announcement. “As musicians, we were horrified that our music festivals were partnered with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investment, loans and underwriting of arms companies supplying the Israeli military. Hundreds of artists have taken action this summer to make it clear that this is morally reprehensible, and we are glad we have been heard.

“Our demand to Barclays is simple: divest from the genocide, or face further boycotts. Boycotting Barclays, also Europe’s primary funder of fossil fuels, is the minimum we can do to call for change.”

“We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do”

IQ recently spoke to industry figures to find out how the business is dealing with the issue.

In response to the boycotts, Barclays have repeatedly pointed to their online Q&A which states: “We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.”

The activism has extended beyond live music to become a growing topic of debate in the wider arts world. Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, presenter Richard Osman said: “There’s an awful lot of pressure on Latitude and artists playing Latitude because of their ties to Barclays… And people I spoke to in the last week, they’re all talking amongst themselves, saying, ‘I don’t really want to boycott in this way. I understand what’s happening, but it feels like this isn’t the best thing to do.'”

The Financial Times reports that Wimbledon is now being targeted over its Barclays sponsorship, while investment management firm Baillie Gifford cancelled its sponsorship deals with literary festivals in the UK last week following protests over its links to Israel and fossil fuel companies.

Nick Thomas, a partner at Baillie Gifford, said: “The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, NVIDIA, and Meta.

“Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.

“Nor is Baillie Gifford a significant fossil fuel investor. Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Latitude 2024 loses more acts over Barclays links

Mui Zyu and Georgia Ruth are the latest artists to pull out of this year’s edition of Latitude festival over its sponsorship with Barclays and the bank’s ties to Israel.

The pair follow in the footsteps of Pillow Queens, who became the first band to boycott Latitude 2024, and CMAT, who dropped out last week.

Zyu shared a statement on her official Instagram account explaining her decision to boycott the Suffolk Music Festival.

“The festival is sponsored by Barclays who are continuing to profit from the genocide in Palestine,” began her statement.

She continued: “Barclays are on the BDS Movement’s boycott list. Throughout the last six months they have continued to increase their financing to companies making weapons that are then used on Gaza where at this moment over 37,000 people have been killed and over 82,000 people injured (many of whom are children).

“As a small artist this may not have much impact on the festival, but if others join it can. If you are planning to attend the festival please consider using your voice as a customer to speak out against your money going towards a genocide.

“As a small artist this may not have much impact on the festival, but if others join it can”

Her statement concluded with “Follow Bands Boycott Barclays who are leading this movement. Familiarise yourself with the BDS Movement, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.”

Zyu was also one of over 100 acts that dropped out of The Great Escape in Brighton last month in solidarity with Palestine and as part of the Bands Boycott Barclays. The campaign group listed Isle of Wight and Latitude festivals – both of which are presented by Barclaycard – and Download as their “next festival targets”.

Ruth also took to Instagram account to share her own statement explaining her decision to boycott Latitude and highlight the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s (PSC) latest report which revealed that Barclays “now invests over £2 billion in, and provides loans and underwriting worth £6.1 billion, to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology are used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians”.

“I was inspired by the effective boycott of Hay Festival this week by participating authors, which led directly to Baillie Gifford being dropped as main sponsor,” she wrote. “We can make a difference; festivals can make meaningful change. I urge Latitude to cut financial ties with Barclaycard.”

In response to the boycotts, Barclays have repeatedly pointed to their online Q&A which states: “We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.”

Last week, IQ spoke to industry figures to find out how the business is dealing with artist boycotts.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.