Chappell Roan has hit back at a music executive who criticised her speech at the Grammys.
At the weekend, the US singer called for record labels to give a “liveable wage” to rising stars, after winning the best new artist award at the ceremony.
Her comments, which also urged companies to provide healthcare for those at the start of their music career, were criticised by Jeff Rabhan, who has worked with singers including Kelly Clarkson, and is the co-founder and chief executive of bored-of-ed.com, an artist, audience and brand platform.
He said her “rise to stardom, fuelled by viral moments, major label backing and an industry desperate for the next alternative pop starlet, proves she’s no longer a struggling artist”.
He added that she should “do something about” the issues for rising stars in the industry, instead of just talking about the problem.
On Friday, Roan, 26, urged Rabhan to “match me” in donating 25,000 US dollars (£20,166) to “struggling dropped artist”, in an Instagram story, and added: “Let’s talk.”
She followed this up with another story saying: “Mr Rabhan, I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is’ – genius.
“Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.”
The singer then wrote “in the meantime, here are some artists that deserve more love and a bigger platform”, and posted Spotify screenshots of US singers including Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley and Baby Storme.
Rabhan also said that when Roan won a Grammy, she became “no longer the scrappy indie artist fighting from the fringes, she became part of the establishment”, and called her “disingenuous” for having mainstream success, and then criticising the industry.
He also wrote: “Record labels are businesses, not charities, and the deal is simple, they put up the money, take the risk and, in return, they get a cut of the profits.
“Could the system be better? Sure. Should artists get better deals? Absolutely. But Roan’s speech lacked the nuance and industry awareness to build any consensus or even speak to the priorities of an artist’s platform of issues.”
Elsewhere, Rabhan said that starting a foundation, running a mentorship programme and investing in up and coming artists “is what real industry disruptors do”, citing the example of artists such as Taylor Swift, who got control of her own music by re-recording her albums.
Roan was nominated for six awards at the ceremony, including album of the year and best pop vocal album for The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, and song of the year and record of the year for Good Luck Babe!
She said at the event on Sunday: “I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists, would offer a liveable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists.”
She added that she “got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt and, like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance”.
She called for record labels to treat artists as employees, with wages and health insurance.
According to a census from charity Help Musicians and the Musicians’ Union (MU), about half of British musicians are earning less than £14,000 a year from music, and 43% of respondents said they earn less than that figure.
It also disclosed that the average annual income from music is reported at £20,700, which is based on all respondents earning any percentage of their total income from music.
