Some artists and audiences are boycotting Boiler Room and other events over its parent company's links with Israel, sparking fierce debate about the best way to protest and how to remain uncompromised. Those attending Boiler Room's two-day festival in London's Burgess Park in August may have noticed a troubling message spray-painted on the site's perimeter fence: 'Boiler Room is owned by Israeli arms investors.' In nearby Brockwell Park, graffiti depicted a bomb with the letters 'KKR' emblazoned on it.
In June 2024, the private equity giant KKR acquired Superstruct Entertainment, the company that owns these four festivals and tens of others. KKR has considerable business interests in Israel, including investments in Axel Springer SE, a German media company that runs classified ads for housing developments in the illegally occupied West Bank. Ravers for Palestine, an anonymously run Instagram page that has backed dozens of boycotts, characterised KKR in a recent post as 'the beating heart of western capitalism where an insatiable lust for profits and power has no moral boundaries'.
Artists including Massive Attack and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have pulled their music from Spotify in response to that company's founder Daniel Ek's €600m investment in Helsing, a military-focused AI company. Last year, Barclays suspended its sponsorship deals with Live Nation festivals including Download and Latitude following protests. The Great Escape festival in Brighton also announced it would no longer partner with the bank. Similarly, Baillie Gifford cancelled sponsorship deals with a number of literary festivals following backlash to its ties with Israel and investments in fossil fuels.
These questions have coalesced around Boiler Room, whose global, year-round livestreamed events have made it an ongoing target for boycotts. DJ EZ, MCR-T and Taylah Elaine pulled out of its September event in Toronto, where KKR's investment in the controversial Coastal GasLink pipeline – which cuts through unceded First Nations land in British Columbia – made the connection especially pertinent. Performers booked for forthcoming events in Lisbon and Tokyo are also being called on to cancel their appearances.
Boiler Room has attempted to distance itself from its new owner, saying in a statement that its staff had no control over the sale, that it retains editorial independence, and 'will always remain unapologetically pro-Palestine'. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) responded positively to the statement and has not endorsed a boycott. However, in a music scene in which integrity and independence are highly valued, the disconnect between Boiler Room's values and its ownership structure is arguably placing the brand on an unsteadier footing than ever.
