Heavy Metal Music Label Closes Down Following PayPal, Credit Card Processor Blacklisting

Black metal music label Elegy Records is closing down after it was allegedly blacklisted by PayPal and credit card processors.

According to Death Metal Underground, which has previously been targeted itself by Antifa, Elegy Records was one of the “first labels no-platformed by PayPal” in 2017, following complaints made by activists.

“PayPal has since dropped Moribund, No Colours, and other cornerstone black metal labels from the 1990s, likely due to the organized complaints of the same people. It remains to be seen whether or not these labels will meet the same fate as Elegy,” Death Metal Underground reported. “Active since 1996, Elegy Records was responsible for key releases… Elegy pushed whatever extreme content they could with no regard to moral or political limitations. True to itself from day one until the end, Elegy resisted the thrift store tendencies of vinyl and cassette releases and stuck completely to the most sensible physical format, the CD.”

The owner of Elegy Records claimed in a statement to Death Metal Underground, “There was no reason given to me from PayPal other than an email stating that I could not use their service anymore. I did try to contact them, phone calls and emails and in the end to no avail. The only response I received was that I violated their terms of service but nothing more concise; if you are aware of TOS it covers everything and anything.”

#DroppedbyPayPal Due to the nature of your activities, we have chosen to discontinue service in accordance with PayPal's User Agreement.

— Elegy Records (@Elegy_Records) August 17, 2017

The label, which has been around for over two decades, was then reportedly dropped by its primary credit card processor, which marked the start of its end.

“When I spoke to a representative, they informed me they did not wish to work with me because I promoted hate,” the owner claimed. “This was a death blow, at this point I had no means to accept any form of payments aside from cash or Money order but there is no way to survive in that business model.”

In 2006, the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed Elegy Records as a “hate music” distributor, describing the label as “one of the biggest distributors of racist black metal.”

Music streaming platform Spotify, which has a partnership with the SPLC, also cracked down on “hate music” in 2017, censoring popular rapper XXXTentacion and singer R Kelly, before backtracking in 2018.