In response to the unfurling Black Lives Matter movement that has picked up momentum in light of the senseless murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has pledged to donate 5% of his “writer revenue” to organizations “working toward racial justice”.
The musician has penned an open letter on Wilco’s website and social platforms, encouraging musicians to donate to Black communities.
“The modern music industry is built almost entirely on Black art,” he wrote.
“The wealth that rightfully belonged to Black artists was stolen outright and to this day continues to grow outside their communities. No one artist could come close to paying the debt we owe to the Black originators of our modern music and their children and grandchildren.
“As an individual I have recognized the unfairness of the life I live in relation to the deprivation of people whose work mine is but a shadow of. I’ve tried to compensate for those inequities in both my public and private life. It hasn’t been enough.”
Tweedy has proposed an “industry-wide plan to address this enormous injustice,” a “sustained tithing” to “redirect a portion of our revenue to the communities that have been deprived of it.”
The musician has pledged to donate 5% of his earnings to Movement for Black Lives and Black Women’s Blueprint.
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Tweedy specifically urged Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) and others industry leaders to take initiative.
“Thousands of us committing to a reparations initiative could change our business and the world we live in,” he wrote.
You can read the open letter in its entirety here.
The past weeks have seen musicians come to the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement. Earlier this week, Fiona Apple pledged to donate all proceeds from television and movie syncs of her Fetch the Bolt Cutters cuts ‘Shameika’ and ‘Heavy Balloon’ to two different charities over the next two years.
Royalties from ‘Shameika’ will be dedicated to The Harlem Children’s Zone — a non-profit organisation that offers free support to children and families living in Harlem. Proceed from ‘Heavy Balloon will be directed to Indigenous Womxn-led resistance Seeding Sovereignty, a collective that aims to dismantle colonial institutions and replace them with Indigenous practices.
Kanye West also donated $2 million to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, victims who were murdered at the hands of police brutality.
The Weeknd, Drake, Bon Iver and are amongst other musicians donating funds towards non-profit organizations and other groups aimed to provide financial help to the families of the victims, and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
