Staff
Rights group 100 Percenters staged a protest outside the offices of Universal Music Group in Santa Monica today (February 6). The nonprofit founded in July 2020 by Tiffany Red, a Grammy-winning songwriter, is asking songwriters to receive fair compensation — or, as Red put it, “not to give credit where the credit is literally due.”
The protest followed the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday. Red, along with fellow Grammy-winning songwriter Kimberly “Kaydence” Krysiuk, said lining up for the music industry’s biggest event was “bittersweet.” This was especially the case after the first-ever Songwriter of the Year award, presented to Tobias Jesso Jr., the day before. Says Krysiuk: “I think the recognition for our work is great, but at the end of the day, it’s like, fuck, how am I going to pay the rent? It almost feels like you feel like a fraud.
Universal Music Group is the largest music company in the world and home to top-selling artists such as Drake, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Sam Smith. Its offices in Santa Monica are home to the Republic and Interscope labels, among others, as well as Universal Music Publishing Group. It is led by Lucian Grainge, who was one of the main architects of its IPO in September 2021. UMG’s market capitalization currently stands at $47 billion. The company has yet to comment on the protest.
The 100 Percenters are pushing for specific changes to how the industry does business with songwriters, advocating for contracts detailing the writer’s contribution and a proportional payment and royalty structure before the song is released. , as well as fees for sessions and studio time and participation in SoundExchange payments.
Red says the goal is for artists and fans to recognize how much time, energy and talent goes into crafting a song. Said Red: “The [artists] exploit us too. The reason everyone makes so much money is because they don’t pay everyone. If you paid people, you wouldn’t have that much power. It’s a hierarchy. The songwriters are the help.
“I don’t think artists are as impacted as songwriters,” Kaydence added. “We tried to get the artists to stop. [Artists] feel like they don’t want to ruffle those feathers or those relationships. So at the end of the day, you get used to it. I don’t think artists like to fully grasp how bad it is.
The small but vocal group of advocates gathered also highlighted the process of collaborating with artists, citing a long-standing misconception. “There’s the illusion that artists write their songs,” Red said. Indeed, many of this year’s award-winning and Grammy-nominated songs had double-digit credits.
To give an example, Red refers to multi-Grammy winner Whitney Houston. “We knew Whitney Houston didn’t write all of these songs, but that doesn’t take away from her gift,” Red said. “It didn’t take anything away from his star. It wasn’t because of his power, his money, his impact, it didn’t take anything away from any of that. But when artists do this shit, it makes us takes away – takes away our money, our impact; our voice; our value.
US Variety
