Sam Fender says music industry is “rigged” for “privately educated” artists
Sam Fender has recently scorned the modern music industry, saying that the system is “rigged” in favour of the upper classes. He described the music industry as “90 per cent kids who are privately educated.”
During a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Fender spoke about the constant injustices he sees in the music industry. He also touched upon the guilt he feels having made it in the music industry despite being from a working-class background, as all of his friends still struggle “On the bones of their arse.”
“The music industry is 80 per cent, 90 per cent kids who are privately educated,” he said, “A kid from where I’m from can’t afford to tour, so there are probably thousands writing songs that are ten times better than mine, poignant lyrics about the country, but they will not be seen because it’s rigged.”
He dissected one of his newest songs ‘TV Dinner’ from the album People Watching, saying that the music industry has a habit of building artists up just to knock them down in the long run.
“It was wild. I wrote that, then Liam Payne died,” he said, “You think of the amount of times he was getting dragged through the press and he didn’t help himself, did he? Bless him. I remember watching some videos he was in and being, like, ‘God, what a tit.’ But the reality was that he was just a young lad, famous far too young, who had addiction trouble – and everyone hit him with the pitchforks.”
Fender said that class is a privilege many people don’t seem to address within the world of entertainment. While people frequently talk about men being at an advantage, Fender rejects the blanket notion and says it depends on circumstances.
“People are very unaware. We are very good at talking about privileges – white, male or straight privilege,” he said, “We rarely talk about class, though. And that’s a lot of the reason that all the young lads are seduced by demagogues like Andrew Tate.”
Fender continued, “They’re being shamed all the time and made to feel like they’re a problem. It’s this narrative being told to white boys from nowhere towns. People preach to some kid in a pit town in Durham who’s got fuck all and tell him he’s privileged? Then Tate tells him he’s worth something? It’s seductive.”
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