Red Bull to reduce music activities

The energy drink company owns a network of recording studios around the world, including South Africa, Japan, France, Brazil, the US and UK.

In addition to the studios, the cutback could also see a number of the company’s music events cancelled. In 2018, the Red Bull hosted its music festival in South Africa, which was followed by festivals in the UK and US featuring hundreds of artists.

Red Bull has not given details of the exact areas that will be affected by the decrease in music activities. In October, the company shut down its radio platform and music academy, and made its archive of lectures, interviews and workshops available for free.

Despite the new cutbacks, the company will continue to run its record label out of the US, a Red Bull spokesperson said.

“Red Bull has decided to strengthen the focus of its culture marketing programmes on where it makes most impact. Culture programmes that remain will include Red Bull BC One, Red Bull Dance Your Style and Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos. Many other culture marketing activities will be discontinued. In time, we will share the local activations that remain. On the music side, Red Bull Records will continue,” the spokesperson said.

The development follows internal tension at the company caused by its reaction to the recent Black Lives Matter protests, with the company replacing US CEO Stefan Kozak and president and chief marketing officer Amy Taylor last week.

“Some US employees had recently raised concerns about what they considered the company’s inaction on the Black Lives Matter movement and about a racist slide that was in a presentation given at a company event in February,” The Wall Street Journal wrote on 15 July. About 300 Red Bull employees had signed a letter expressing concern with the company’s lack of response to the Black Lives Matter campaign.

“We reject racism in every form, we always have, and we always will," the company said in a statement. "Red Bull has always put people and their dreams and accomplishments at its core and values the contribution of each and every person – no matter who they are. We want everyone who feels this way to be welcome in Red Bull.”