Ryuichi Sakamoto’s estate removes his music from streaming in Israel and joins ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign

The estate of Ryuichi Sakamoto has joined the ’No Music For Genocide’ campaign and removed his music from streaming in Israel.

The campaign is a cultural boycott initiative encouraging artists and rights-holders to pull their music from streaming platforms in Israel in response to the genocide in Gaza.

To join the coalition, the artists involved have edited their own release territories or sent geo-block requests to their distributor or label. They are encouraging major label groups Sony, UMG, and Warner to follow suit, particularly as they blocked their entire catalogues from and closed operations in Russia a month into their invasion of Ukraine.

Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., Amyl & The Sniffers, and Kneecap were among the first leading names to join the initiative last month, and were soon joined by Paramore, Rina Sawayama, MIKE, Primal Scream, Faye Webster, Japanese Breakfast, Yaeji, King Krule, MJ Lenderman, Mannequin Pussy, Wednesday, Soccer Mommy and MØ.

Now, the estate of legendary Japanese composer Sakamoto has joined, writing on Facebook: “To the extent possible, the Estate has removed or issued formal requests to labels to remove his music from all DSP (streaming and download) services in Israel. For much of his catalog, this has already taken effect.”

Other leading names to have thrown their weight behind ‘No Music For Genocide’ include Björk, Lorde, IDLES, MUNA, Paloma Faith, Clairo, Wolf Alice, Lucy Dacus and AURORA.

The ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign said that as they looked toward the “recovery, rebuilding, and life free from state terrorism for the people of Gaza”, they would renew efforts to demand for a boycott, and to “divest from, and sanction apartheid Israel for its crimes across all of Palestine until we achieve peace rooted in true justice”.

Sakamoto died in 2023 at the age of 71. After making his name as a founding member of pioneering electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra, he went on to become a revered composer for films such as The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Revenant.

The NME obituary for Sakamoto concluded: “Over the decades, he remained fascinated with the pop song, testing the endurance of its form through different methods of musicianship – even while holding on to his earliest and dearest classical inspirations. In the wake of his departure, it’s hard to imagine that there will ever be another like Ryuichi Sakamoto.”