Pop star Chappell Roan recently made headlines for a few reasons that frankly, shouldn’t be controversial. Roan gave a speech at the GRAMMYs where she called out the music industry (and specifically major labels) for not providing artists with basic needs like a livable wage and healthcare.
“I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially developing artists,” said Roan.
Roan continued: “I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor. When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had… quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and [could not] afford insurance.”
“It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized. If my label had prioritized it, I could have been provided care for a company I was giving everything to. Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection.”
She finished her speech by asking: “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
This pissed off former music industry executive and possible ghoul Jeffrey S. Rabhan, who wrote a scathing (and not well-received) op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter smugly titled Chappell Groan: The Misguided Rhetoric of an Instant Industry Insider.
So in response to Rabhan, Roan donated $25,000 to an unnamed fund to help struggling artists. Roan then challenged Rabhan to do the same, writing on Instagram: “Wanna match me $25k to donate to struggling dropped artists?”
She continued: “Will keep everyone updated on the much awaited response!! And I will show receipts of the donations Rabhan I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth it.’ Genius!!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.” While it’s not clear if Rabhan has responded, Sumerian Records CEO Ash Avildsen has stepped up and matched Roan’s donation.
In a video, Avildsen explained his decision as such: “Sumerian Records is matching Chappell Roan for 25 grand and now we got a message for this major label suit who thinks he’s really profound in how he’s denounced her Grammys speech and what she stands for. Instead of telling her to shut up and sing, why don’t we talk about the real reason we’re in this mess. How about showing us the receipts for the equity deals and massive bonuses the big three got from Spotify for selling all the artists down the river. Go ahead and show us the same thing for the Youtube deal when Chen and Hurley sold it to Google.
“Instead of hiring execs who think young artists on exclusive contracts don’t deserve healthcare, maybe the industry should’ve hired actual forward-thinking people who understand technology. How many major labels ever computer programmers? Instead of Steve Jobs having to bail us out the first time with itunes, or Daniel Ek playing captain sailor bro the second time with Spotify, maybe the big three could’ve developed their own digital stores and streamers so that the digital money would just be split between the labels and the artists? But no, instead we’ve got Spotify worth more than every label put together and then across the street we’ve got Live Nation and Ticketmaster all as one company owning every meaningful aspect of the entire concert industry.
“See, the problem isn’t artists like Chappell Roan speaking up for the smaller ones, the problem is that executives like you make artists scared to speak their truth, whether it’s about the music or the state of the world. Whether it’s justice for a fair share, or justice for little innocent kids getting blown up, the machine wants everyone to shut up and sing. Imagine if every touring artist said they wouldn’t book another show until Ticketmaster lowered their service fees and stopped doing dynamic pricing. Maybe this is our cue to start a true musician’s guild with every working artist who understands that the big companies are way too greedy and way too powerful, but without people just shutting up and singing, how powerful are they?”
Source: metalinjection.net
