On June 18th, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy published a lengthy open letter, addressing the racial inequality in the music industry, and calling on his peers to take action.
The letter saw Tweedy pledge to donate 5% of his “writer revenue” to organisations “working toward racial justice.” A move that came in light of the Black Lives Matter movement that picked up momentum following the senseless murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Tweedy’s open letter was a call to action for his peers, encouraging them to reckon with the knowledge that the music industry is built on a foundation of profiting off black art.
“The modern music industry is built almost entirely on Black art,” he wrote. “The wealth that rightfully belongs to Black artists was stolen outright…I’ve often thought there should be an industry-wide plan to address this enormous injustice.
“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.”
Tweedy’s letter saw the musician challenge performance rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC to implement programs committed to elevating black musicians, and committing to reparations.
Hundreds of us joining together could provide some tremendous relief. Thousands of us committing to a reparations initiative could change our business and the world we live in,” he wrote.
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In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Tweedy delved into what his vision of music industry reparation looks like.
“I have to admit, I’ve been a little bit disappointed in the response, or lack of response, or outreach, from my peers,” Tweedy revealed.
“I don’t think I would want to say that in any way that sounds condemning, because that’s what I put out there, and I can’t take for granted that it’s the best idea.”
He continued, “I believe everybody that is participating in the music industry today has an enormous debt to a lot of artists that were never paid. And because they were never paid, their communities, their families, were never allowed to amass any type of wealth that would sustain them and be handed down. That’s an amazing injustice.”
The musician revealed that he has a dialogue running with BMI, which he hopes will “be able to put together a coalition of Black community leaders and people within the music industry that would help me administer and direct and be somewhat of a board of trustees.”
He also delved into his decision to focus on the publishing industry and royalty theft experienced by Black artists.
“American culture is Black culture,” he mused. “It’s not my place to be this voice of this, but it is real and it is true that [royalty theft] is an unaddressed crime.
“What would the world look like if Big Mama Thornton had been paid? What would the world look like if those artists, even all the way back to minstrelsy, the first massive cultural/musical movement in the United States, which grew out of slavery and made a lot of money for a lot of white people, [had been compensated]? It’s not just the rock & roll era, or the jazz era. I don’t draw the line at just the bad contracts the Chess Brothers put together for Muddy Waters.”
Check out ‘All In It Together’ performed by Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy:
