Michelle Zauner, AKA Japanese Breakfast, has had to respond to the recent backlash at her upcoming performance at Intersect Festival. The event is heavily linked with Amazon and has seen artist The Black Madonna react angrily to have been booked for the show.
The Black Madonna said she was “furious” to have been booked for the event taking place in Las Vegas over December 6th and 7th of this year. Her claim is that she had no idea Intersect Festival was so heavily affiliated with the tycoon company when making the booking. It’s a notion that Zauner has now backed up.
Zauner confirmed she was also unaware of the links between Intersect and Amazon Web Services but with The Black Madonna subsequently cancelled her appearance, Japanese Breakfast responded by saying “I feel conflicted participating” and more in a series of conversations with her fans online.
Everyone has the right to be upset. I will say like The Black Madonna it was not brought to my attention this was an AWS event. But the line to draw in the sand when it comes to branded content feels a bit unclear to me when operating in an industry that relies on a lot of
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) October 18, 2019
With acts including Foo Fighters, Beck, Kacey Musgraves and Anderson .Paak and more, Zauner rightly mentions the grey areas of a relatively small indie act trying to align her ethics. While on one hand, Amazon, in general, may feel like some kind of corporate overlord it’s hard for an artist to not participate with them as a business.
She responded to one fan by saying, “When we signed on for this fest months ago we weren’t told it was presented by AWS. I agree that this and most corps have despicable practices and feel conflicted participating as I did w Coachella. I’m still uncertain how to move forward as a small indie act on a bill.”
branded content and working within the systemic confines of tech companies being in control of a majority of our royalties. Remember when we are all yes slay queen and this woman likely took over a hundred times our guarantee to stream on amazon? pic.twitter.com/Xwwe1mK79h
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) October 18, 2019
When we signed on for this fest months ago we weren’t told it was presented by AWS. I agree that this and most corps have despicable practices and feel conflicted participating as I did w Coachella. I’m still uncertain how to move forward as a small indie act on a bill.
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) October 18, 2019
Who… has done that? I don’t think any of us on the festival claimed this was our only shot to make money. I am a little confused why we are complacent to support art that takes 100x the amount of this festival guarantee from the same resource ie shows like fleabag, etc
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) October 18, 2019
Following the backlash and subsequent spats with musicians and fans alike, Zauner confirmed leaving the social media site for the time being. “It’s hard not to be defensive and snarky on here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I don’t want to belittle an important dialogue. I feel conflicted. I want to listen and act accordingly. I’m sorry if you hate me for it. I’m going to log off for awhile.”
It’s hard not to be defensive and snarky on here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I don’t want to belittle an important dialogue. I feel conflicted. I want to listen and act accordingly. I’m sorry if you hate me for it. I’m going to log off for awhile.
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) October 18, 2019