Kate Nash protests outside Live Nation and Spotify: “The music industry has failed artists”
After joining OnlyFans to help fund her United Kingdom and European tour, singer-songwriter Kate Nash has protested about the state of the music industry outside the headquarters of Live Nation and Spotify in London.
On November 21st, Nash announced her decision to join the adult platform as part of her campaign, Butts For Tour Buses. Explaining her reasoning for becoming an OnlyFans creator, Nash highlighted the issues with the modern music eco-system, stating, “We are seeing a select few in the industry become millionaires or even billionaires from touring, the majority of musicians and artists are struggling to be able to afford to actually play shows.”
Nash claimed that although ticket prices have risen across the board, most musicians haven’t seen any increase in their fees despite the higher costs they have to deal with in areas such as accommodation and promotion.
Rather than compromise on the quality of the show, Nash asked her listeners to either “buy either a piece of my merch or my arse on my new ONLYFANS account katenyash87 to support me paying great wages & putting on a high quality show as I will not sacrifice either of things.”
Notably, Nash also highlighted the lack of money she earns from streaming and told fans not to support her art by listening to it on those platforms.
Then, on November 28th, hours before she took to the stage for a sold-out show at London’s KOKO, Nash teamed up with Save Our Scene to project an image of her bottom on an SOS fire truck which stopped by a series of music industry headquarters in London.
“The industry is in crisis”
In a statement, Nash said of the protest: “The cost of presenting live music has gone up by 30.3% over the past 2 years. There were 125 venues that closed last year in the UK. And, the value of recorded music is extremely low. You’re paid 0.003 of a penny per stream.”
The singer-songwriter continued: “The industry is in crisis, the music industry has failed artists, and is completely unsustainable, and my arse is shining a light on that. And none would be listening if my bum wasn’t involved. This is a conversation about agency. And selling pictures of my bum is giving me the agency to reinvest in my creative economy. The music industry does not give me that agency.”
While outside the Live Nation headquarters, Nash highlighted that the company made £22.749 billion last year in revenue last year. Furthermore, she also accused the music industry giant of being the “main hold-up” in the government’s plan to ensure £1 per ticket for arena and stadium shows is diverted back to grassroots venues.
Furthermore, while outside Spotify’s headquarters, Nash again criticised the Swedish company for paying artists 0.0003p per stream and noted that 80 per cent of music on the platform is demonetised due to having less than 1,000 streams.
Meanwhile, George Fleming, founder of Save Our Scene, added of Nash’s protest, “It is unforgivable that the UK’s world renowned live music sector is being allowed to crumble at this current speed. Any UK artist selling out arenas or stadiums, driving record breaking profits, cut their teeth in the UK grassroots network. We must do everything we can to ensure upcoming talent has the same opportunities as those artists and we are so grateful to Kate (and her bum) for bringing much needed attention to this cause.”
Fleming concluded: “We hope the major players in the music industry will follow the Government’s recent advice to implement a £1 per ticket contribution to grassroots music on all arena and stadium shows without any further delay. This really would stop venues closing, make tours happen and keep live music accessible to communities around the UK.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.