Following in the footsteps of major entertainment companies, Sony Music has suspended all its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed.
According to Variety, in a statement, the company said, “Sony Music Group calls for peace in Ukraine and an end to the violence. We have suspended operations in Russia and will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.” Sources have informed that staffers of the company will continue to receive their salaries for an undetermined time, however, the artists’ situation is still being worked out.
Earlier, Universal Music Group had announced on Tuesday that it will be suspending its operations in the country.
All three major labels, Universal, Sony and Warner, have local labels and operations in Russia. Warner will also be suspending its operations in the coming days. The three companies all have made donations to Ukraine relief efforts, as per Variety.
Tech giant Amazon also halted its operations in Russia following the conflict.
Amazon has suspended product shipments and cut off access to Prime Video in Russia, reported Variety. The e-commerce giant said in a statement that it is cutting off access to Prime Video for customers based in Russia, given “the ongoing situation in Russia and Ukraine.”
Amazon said that it has also ceased shipment of retail products to customers in Russia and Belarus and said it will no longer be taking orders from Russian customers for its video game ‘New World’, the only game the company sells directly in the country.
Additionally, the company will no longer be accepting new Russia or Belarus-based customers for its AWS cloud computing services, nor will merchants in those countries be accepted as Amazon third-party sellers, reported Variety.
“As a reminder, unlike some other U.S. technology providers, Amazon and AWS have no data centres, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” the Seattle-based company said in a statement.
According to Amazon, it has continued to partner with several non-governmental organisations to support “the immense humanitarian needs in the region”.