The No Music for Genocide cause is continuing to grow, with Clairo, Lucy Dacus and numerous other artists announcing their commitment to removing their catalogs from Israel amid the violence in Gaza.

The campaign announced the new additions on Friday (Oct. 10), revealing that Nao, Wolf Alice, Of Monsters and Men, Aurora and Mallrat have also added their names to the boycott. The news comes shortly after Lorde, Hayley Williams, Paramore, Björk, MUNA and Paloma Faith joined the 1,000-plus others who are part of the growing movement.

Originally launching in September with more than 400 signees, No Music for Genocide aims to support Palestinian people by pulling music from streaming services in Israel through geo-blocking. Kneecap, Faye Webster, Japanese Breakfast, Aminé, Massive Attack, Soccer Mommy, Rina Sawayama, MIKE, Primal Scream and Fontaines D.C. were among the first artists to join when it launched.

“Culture can’t stop bombs on its own, but it can help reject political repression, shift public opinion toward justice and refuse the art-washing and normalization of any company or nation that commits crimes against humanity,” reads a statement from No Music for Genocide in a release. “This initiative is one part of a worldwide movement to erode the support Israel needs to continue its ongoing systems of oppression.”

News of the campaign’s expansion comes just a few days after Israel’s war against Hamas — which began on Oct. 7, 2023, after the terrorist group attacked and killed 1,200 Israelis while taking 251 more hostage — reached the two-year mark. Israel has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in that time, leading the United Nations to declare in September that the country is committing genocide.

As of Friday, however, Israel declared that a ceasefire has taken effect, pulling troops out of urban areas in exchange for Hamas’ release of 20 hostages. Israel will then free 250 imprisoned Palestinians and 1,700 war detainees, according to Reuters.

With Israeli military now pulling out of parts of Gaza, thousands of Palestinians are currently traveling back on foot to whatever is left of their abandoned homes. To say the least, it’s a bittersweet moment that follows more than 700 straight days of violence, hunger and homelessness experienced by the Palestinian people, as well as two years of people all over the world — including many A-list artists — protesting Israel’s actions.

“People are screaming with joy in the streets,” a 20-year-old Palestinian woman named Raghad Izzat Hamouda told CNN on Friday. “Imagine that you survived the genocide that lasted for two whole years under the bombing, hunger, destruction, fear.”

John Lodge, bassist and vocalist for symphonic prog-rock greats The Moody Blues for over 50 years, died this week. A post from his family appeared on his official Facebook page Friday morning (Oct. 10) announcing that Lodge “has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us.” He was 82.

Lodge was born in the suburbs of Birmingham, England in 1948. After falling in love with rock and roll in its early days, he started playing in Birmingham bands in the early ’60s and met Ray Thomas, who would soon become a founding member of the Moody Blues. When that band’s original bassist Clint Warwick left the group in 1966, Lodge stepped in at his replacement.

At the time he joined the band, The Moody Blues had scored just one real chart hit, a blue-eyed soul cover of Bessie Banks’ “Go Now!” that peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1965. Following the addition of Lodge (as well as new guitarist and singer Justin Hayward), the band took a turn towards more symphonic, progressive and psychedelic rock. The band’s first album in its new configuration, 1967’s ambitious Days of Future Passed was not a big chart hit at first, but did spawn another Hot 100 hit in the No. 22-peaking “Tuesday Afternoon,” and began to win over a devoted fanbase with its lush arrangements and panoramic performance and presentation.

The band’s albums grew increasingly successful through the late ’60s and early ’70s, as the band hit the top five of the Billboard 200 with each of 1970’s A Question of Balance, 1971’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and 1972’s Seventh Sojourn — its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — while spinning off Hot 100 hits like 1970’s “Question” (No. 21) and 1971’s “The Story in Your Eyes” (No. 23). The band’s biggest hit of all would not come from these ’70s albums, however, but from a revived highlight of Days of Future Passed, as that album’s climactic epic “Nights in White Satin” reached No. 2 in late 1972, five years after its initial release.

Lodge’s sturdy bass lines were a big part of anchoring songs like “Satin” and 1973’s rollicking No. 12 hit “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band),” helping keep their majestic arrangements from ever drifting off into pomposity. Lodge also wrote and sang on “Singer,” as well as on 1972 No. 29 hit “Isn’t Life Strange,” and he and Hayward co-wrote and split lead vocals on the band’s 1981 No. 12 hit “Gemini Dream.”

Following the band’s massive 1972 commercial peak with Sojourn and the revitalized “Satin,” it went on hiatus, as Lodge and Hayward worked on the 1975 album Blue Jays, a top 20 Billboard 200 success with a couple minor Hot 100 hit singles in “I Dreamed Last Night” (No. 47) and “Blue Guitar” (No. 94) — the only hits Lodge ever scored on the chart under his own name. Lodge also released his solo debut with 1977’s Natural Avenue, though the album saw limited success.

The Moody Blues picked back up in the late ’70s, and continued to thrive through the ’80s with a poppier, more synth-than-strings-driven sound. The band even found success on MTV with 1986’s “Your Wildest Dreams,” its second and final top 10 Hot 100 hit (No. 9), thanks to a plot-driven, Brian Grant-directed video. In the ’90s, the band’s commercial success dwindled, but it continued touring successfully well into the 21st century, with Lodge staying on as a core member until its official dissolution in 2018, the year the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lodge also recorded a second solo album in 2015, 10,000 Light Years Ago, and began touring solo, including a 2019 stint supporting fellow prog rock titans Yes. The same year, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award from the Prog Awards, honoring his half-century of greatness within the genre. Most recently, he released this February’s solo EP Love Conquers All.

The cause of Lodge’s death is still unknown. See the complete Facebook post announcing his passing below, as well as a clips of a few of his most legendary works with The Moody Blues, and the title track to his final solo release.

Announcement from John’s Family

It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that John Lodge, our darling husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us. As anyone who knew this massive hearted man knows, it was his enduring love of his wife, Kirsten, and his family, that was the most important thing to him, followed by his passion for music, and his faith.

He was never happier than being on stage – he was ‘Just a ‘Singer in a Rock and Roll Band’ and he adored performing with his band and son-in-law, Jon (vocalist with YES), and being able to continue sharing this music with his fans. It gave him even more joy to be able to work with his daughter Emily and son Kristian and spend time watching his grandson John-Henry play football and dream of him playing for Birmingham City one day!

John peacefully slipped away surrounded by his loved-ones and the sounds of The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. We will forever miss his love, smile, kindness, and his absolute and never-ending support. We are heartbroken, but will walk forwards into peace surrounded by the love he had for each of us. As John would always say at the end of the show, thank you for keeping the faith.

Please understand that we are not making any further comments, however we would like to leave you with John’s song ’Whispering Angels’ whilst we take a moment to reflect on this incredible man who touched so many lives.”

If you thought we were at peak biopic, you may have been wrong — as a new deal suggests you should probably expect many more films and documentaries about music legends in the future.  

Warner Music Group (WMG) is “close to an agreement” with Netflix to create movies and documentaries based on the company’s artists and songs, according to Bloomberg. WMG, which shut down its internal division that produced film and TV shows earlier this year and is looking to outsource that work, the report claimed.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference on Wednesday (Oct. 8), WMG CEO Robert Kyncl did not confirm a pending partnership but laid out numerous reasons why the company should work with a global streaming platform. “Our company has a tremendous catalog: Prince, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac,” Kyncl said. “It just goes on and on and on. The stories we have are incredible, and they haven’t really been told. We’re like Marvel [Comics] for music.”

Kyncl, who as a Netflix executive helped the company launch its streaming service in 2007, added that “it makes a lot of sense for us to partner with a company that can bring it to life all around the world.” Netflix, which has more than 300 million subscribers in over 190 countries, would provide WMG with a massive audience for video content without the additional costs involved with theatrical releases.

Netflix has created numerous music-focused documentaries, including Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revenue: A Bob Dylan Story; Miss Americana, a look at Taylor Swift’s career and personal life; Quincy, a history of celebrated producer and musician Quincy Jones; and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.

Music biopics have become an increasingly popular piece of content as companies have invested billions of dollars in artist catalogs and name and likeness rights. The 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody “turbocharged” demand for Queen’s catalog and played a role in its lofty $1.27 billion valuation when it was purchased by Sony Music in 2024. The 2022 film Elvis boosted the value of the late singer’s estate from $600 million in 2020 to $1 billion in 2022, a source told Billboard. Likewise, the upcoming Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen biopics could help Sony Music improve its return on its investments in those artists’ catalogs.  

But the time required to develop films means the payoff — synch royalties and increased streams and radio play — aren’t immediate. As Natalia Nastaskin, chief content officer at Primary Wave, told Billboard in 2024, that lag time could mean the peak of music biopics “may take several years.”