We’ve lost the plot around artists and healthcare

thefader.com:

Chappell Roan’s speech at the 2025 Grammy awards was, in some ways, familiar to me. Her advocacy for healthcare and living wages for musicians was something I’ve heard over the past seven years I’ve spent interviewing musicians, whether signed to indie or major labels.

As record labels and the music industry rake in record profits year after year, consistent financial support or any other kind of stability has virtually vanished to the point that artists of all stripes faced with any significant financial burden are forced to start Patreons just to make ends meet.

So when Chappell stood up and demanded change — including a place to start — I thought to myself, Finally, a conversation can begin on bringing directive and specific change to the industry.

Unfortunately, that momentum has been derailed, and I’m not just referring to that op-ed, though it’s a huge part of it. The day after the Grammys, professor and former major label music exec Jeff Rabhan published a column in The Hollywood Reporter playing aggressive defence for the labels, insisting in a wildly condescending tone that the responsibility, actually, lies with artists like Chappell Roan.