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'It was as if we'd done something wrong'
APRA censors Elefant Traks' stand with Palestine
Alex McKinnon
June 18, 2024
On Friday, hip-hop outfit The Herd released their first new single in 11 years. Featuring Palestinian musicians Big Rigs and Mo, directed by Palestinian multidisciplinary artist Sereen Omran and with streaming royalties going to Palestinian childrens’ charity Olive Kids, ‘Soul of my Soul’ is an attack on the West’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza, and a statement of defiance that Palestine and its people will gain their freedom:
Trying to gaslight the world
Paint the bully as the victim
But it’s streaming to our phones
Are you surprised that we don’t listen?
And I’ve seen so many parents holding lifeless kids in their arms
Are we supposed to be indifferent and calm?
It was an interesting time for The Herd to release a new single. Elefant Traks, the independent record label started by Herd members in 1998, announced in March that it would be shutting down this year. For the last few months the label’s biggest names have been touring the country on a farewell tour, including shows at the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Sydney Opera House.
In April, Elefant Traks was asked to give a special performance at the APRA Music Awards, the annual awards ceremony of Australian music industry peak body APRA AMCOS.
“We were asked by Julian Hamilton [of The Presets] to do a medley of Elefant Traks songs for this year's APRA Awards,” says The Herd frontman Tim Levinson. “It was an honour that recognised our indie label's longevity in an industry that gives very little fucks about anything other than shiny things and major success. I was genuinely honoured.”
Given the opportunity, Levinson says, “we conspired to do something different with the moment”.
Elefant Traks’ performance at the awards incorporated expressions of solidarity with Palestinians. Levinson wore a keffiyeh onstage, and the label’s artists read out a poem written by a Palestinian woman who had to pull out of performing onstage due to fears of backlash from her employer.
While the performance was well-received by the room, the reaction from APRA AMCOS was very different.
“APRA's response was really disappointing. It was as if we'd done something wrong — something naughty and disrespectful,” Levinson says.
Levinson claims APRA has scrubbed all vision and footage of the Elefant Traks performance from its social media channels.
“After the awards, the social media posts about our performance were pulled down from APRA accounts,” Levinson says. “Photos from the night omitted us. Their official email out with photos had everything except us. And a couple weeks ago they posted all the performances except ours.”
“In the leadup we were promised our performance was being filmed and would be uploaded to their channels with the other performances. We were also asked to be officially photographed on the red carpet.”
The Elefant Traks performance has not been uploaded to APRA’s YouTube account. Other videos from the night have been live for more than a month.
Levinson also claims APRA AMCOS deleted comments on social media from users asking about the Elefant Traks performance.
“People started commenting on their Instagram posts but they were all deleted,” Levinson says. “More people started responding and they stopped deleting posts eventually.”
"Our protest was done with careful consideration for the APRA team but what is happening in Gaza is too devastating to ignore. Their response felt dismissive,” Levinson says. “They are an industry body that has to move with the times, so they're always talking a big game about progressive issues — but not Palestine.”
Responding to questions, an APRA AMCOS spokesperson said:
“We were thrilled that a performance celebrating Elefant Traks and its contribution to Australian music was part of the APRA Music Awards in May. The awards are not broadcast or live streamed and are an industry-only in-person event. All our publicity and social media content is posted to celebrate and promote the nominees and winners of all the awards including the Peer-Voted Song of the Year and the Ted Albert Award winner, Bart Willoughby, and at no stage did we remove any of the content from our channels.”
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