An email sent to the Boiler Room staff earlier this week announced that “changes to the structure of the business” means that “a number of roles” are at risk of being made redundant.
The full details of the email weren’t disclosed, but they were shared with Resident Advisor. To put these layoffs into context, let us explore Boiler Room’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.
Who owns Boiler Room?
Boiler Room was started by Blaise Bellville. For the first decade of its existence (2011-2021), it was an independent company. In 2021, it was sold to an online ticketing platform DICE.fm. In January of this year, DICE.fm decided to sell it to Superstruct Entertainment for an undisclosed fee. It is important to note that Boiler Room had no say in this sale.
Superstruct Entertainment is a subsidiary of KKR & Co., an Israel-based conglomerate, founded in 2017. In less than a decade, they swallowed up dozens of festivals across Europe and Australia, turning into world’s second-largest festival promoter behind Ticketmaster.
Some of the most famous festivals under their control include Sziget (Hungary), Awakenings (the Netherlands), ParookaVille (Germany), Sónar (Barcelona), Palmesus (Norway), Hideout (Croatia), and Defqon.1 (the Netherlands).
Why is KKR controversial?
KKR is most controversial for investing in illegal settlements in the West Bank. Through its majority stake in the German media giant Axel Springer, KKR profits from Yad2, an Israeli classified ads site. Investigations have shown that Yad2 allows users to filter specifically for these West Bank settlement properties, effectively facilitating the Israeli occupation.
But the controversy runs deeper than real estate. KKR has aggressively pivoted toward the defence sector. The firm is a key backer of Helsing, a European defence AI company that develops software for battlefield awareness and electronic warfare—essentially “AI for war”. This investment has drawn sharp criticism from a music community that has historically aligned itself with anti-war movements.
Furthermore, activists have highlighted the personal philanthropy of KKR co-founder Henry Kravis, a significant donor to the Friends of the IDF (FIDF), an organization that provides financial support to Israeli soldiers. KKR also offers a corporate matching program for employee donations to the FIDF, creating a direct financial conduit between the firm’s profits and the Israeli military apparatus.
The effects of the boycott
The backlash was slow to start but snowballed into a global anticolonial insurgency within the rave scene. The movement, spearheaded by collectives like Ravers for Palestine and Boycott Room, identified Boiler Room as the “pressure target” to strike at KKR’s reputation.
Some examples of actions taken against KKR during this year include:
- Barcelona: The iconic Sónar Festival faced a massive revolt, with over 70 artists signing a letter opposing KKR and high-profile acts like Sama’ Abdulhadi withdrawing from the lineup.
- London: At Field Day, another Superstruct festival, activists spray-painted “KKR” on a bomb graphic on the festival walls, and the Sisu Crew stage was cancelled after the collective pulled out in protest.
- San Francisco: The boycott forced the total cancellation of Boiler Room San Francisco after local crews refused to play.
- New York: An activist disrupted a Boiler Room event, waving a flag explaining Boiler Room’s association with the genocide in Gaza.
- Detroit: Local techno legends DJ Slugo and DJ Clent pulled out of the event, with Slugo stating he refused to let the culture “sanitise the image of global capital”.
- Lisbon: Fake blood was thrown into the DJ both during the event.
- São Paulo: Boiler Room was cancelled after multiple scheduled DJs dropped out.
- Puerto Rico: Boiler Room was cancelled with little notice.
- Kuala Lumpur: Local collective 0108 Slatan dropped out of the lineup just one day before the show, citing ties with Israel.
- Australia: Ahead of Boiler Room’s planned tour of Australia, key artists dropped out and over 850 Australian artists and collectives signed an open letter refusing to participate.
Boiler Room attempted to stem the bleeding in March 2025 with a statement claiming they were “unapologetically pro-Palestine” and that KKR’s investments “categorically do not align with our values”. However, this attempt to separate the brand from its owner failed to quell the unrest. Activists pointed out that regardless of the editorial team’s sentiments, the profits still flow up to KKR.
The layoffs announced this week appear to be the grim receipt for this turmoil. While the leaked email cites vague “changes to the structure of the business,” it is difficult to divorce these cuts from the reality that the brand has become toxic to its core demographic. With shows cancelled, tickets refunded, and a reputation in tatters, Boiler Room is currently a distressed asset caught in the crossfire of a genocide its owners are helping to fund.
