Singer Chappell Roan used her win for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night to demand that music industry elites offer young and developing artists a “living wage and healthcare.”
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists,” Chappell Roan said, prompting applause and even some standing ovations from the crowd.
Chappell Roan recalled her own experience with a record label as a minor, which ended with her being dropped and left with nothing.
“Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance. It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and feel so dehumanized.”
“If my label would have prioritized artist’s health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to,” she added. “Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Roan exited the stage to thunderous applause.
According to Variety, the 26-year-old Chappell Roan started her career as a teenager with her original name Kayleigh Rose before being signed to Atlantic Records in 2015 only to be dropped by the same company five years later in 2020.
“In 2023, Roan signed with Dan Nigro’s independent imprint Amusement Records, and she released her debut album ;The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ in partnership with Island Records,” noted the outlet.
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