To show their support for Ukraine, Pink Floyd and David Gilmour have announced that their music will be withdrawn from streaming services in Russia and Belarus.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law and launched the invasion war in Ukraine. A number of musicians have joined the protests against the war – now Pink Floyd too. That’s why all music released since 1987 has been withdrawn from the streaming services, the band wrote on Twitter. This also applies to all of David Gilmour’s solo recordings. There was no comment as to why this measure only affects music from 1987 onwards – but it could be related to the fact that Floyd songs before 1987 were published together with Roger Waters; it is possible that the warring camps of Gilmour/Mason and Waters have once again not been able to agree on a joint approach. He expressed that Waters is also an opponent of the war (see below).
To stand with the world in strongly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the works of Pink Floyd, from 1987 onwards, and all of David Gilmour’s solo recordings are being removed from all digital music providers in Russia and Belarus from today. pic.twitter.com/lTV7T3y29u
— Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) March 11, 2022
Gilmour added on his profile: “Russian soldiers stop killing your brothers. There will be no winners in this war. My daughter-in-law is Ukrainian and my granddaughters want to visit and get to know her beautiful country. Stop it before it’s all destroyed.”
Russian soldiers, stop killing your brothers. There will be no winners in this war.
My daughter-in-law is Ukrainian and my grand-daughters want to visit and know their beautiful country. Stop this before it is all destroyed.
Putin must go pic.twitter.com/VE4oMsUIRf
— David Gilmour (@davidgilmour) March 1, 2022
His statement concludes with the sentence: “Putin must go”.
Roger Waters, a former member of the band, described the war as an “act of a gangster” in an open letter to a Ukrainian fan.
“I am disgusted by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” he continued. “In my opinion it’s a criminal mistake, the act of a gangster. There must be an immediate ceasefire. I regret that Western governments are stoking the fire that will destroy your beautiful country by throwing guns at Ukraine instead of engaging in the diplomacy that will be necessary to stop the slaughter.”
With their statement, Pink Floyd are just one of many bands that have shown solidarity with Ukraine in recent weeks. Green Day, for example, recently canceled a concert in Moscow because of the war.