Chappell Roan Claps Back at Dismissal of Her Call for Better Treatment of Talent by Music Labels

Chappell Roan called for music labels to support young talent with livable wages and benefits in her Grammys acceptance speech, provoking a dismissive retort that the "Good Luck, Babe!" singer promptly swatted down.

Upon winning Best New Artist at the Grammys on Feb. 2, Roan took to the podium and "called for record labels to give a livable wage and health care, especially for developing artists," the Associated Press reported in its coverage of the awards ceremony.

In her speech, Roan described the rigors of devoting the energy, time, and focus needed for a music career and how that level of focus can easily leave an artist as she ended up: with little job experience or leeway to pursue a side gig to support herself as she pursued her music-making dreams.

"If my label would have prioritized artists' health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to," Roan said in the course of her speech.

"It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized," Roan added, before issuing the challenge, "Labels, we got you but do you got us?"

The Hollywood Reporter published Jeff Rabhan's riposte to Roan's speech in a "guest essay that went viral for criticizing her Grammy night takedown of the industry," as THR recounted, with Rabhan trotting out the "personal responsibility" argument in response to Roan's call for more investment in emerging talent.

"If labels are responsible for artists' wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin?" Rabhan's response demanded, according to THR.

The essay wondered whether Roan's demands would require a music executive to "put a mint on her pillow and tuck her in at night, too?"

"There is no moral or ethical obligation by any standard that hold labels responsible for the allocation of additional funds beyond advances and royalties," Rabhan went on to assert.

Songwriter and self-described "music business executive" Kay Hanley authored an essay, also published by THR, in response to Rabhan's broadside in defense of Roan and the idea of labels investing in young talent.

"Naturally, there was a certain species of music biz veteran who felt compelled to disagree (thanks to a vestigial shut-up-and-sing bone common to the endangered mammal) and to be fair, I can see why Mr. Rabhan might have been confused at first," Kay wrote of Rabhan's reply to Roan's challenge. "Perhaps he was thinking: a young woman; a best new artist; she just materialized moments ago and doesn't understand how we do things around here," Kay continued.

But, Kay went on to note, labels pay a pittance to most recording artists, and then requite "recoupment" for the effort that goes into producing, publishing, and promoting music: "Everything from music video costs to your recording budget to your Grammy glam bill to the pizza party for the street team interns. The music worker is going to pay up for all that stuff out of their small fraction of the earnings."

"Also on the invoice: funds a record company executive spends taking a streamer's staff out to dinner and drinks – or, in the case of some old school radio station owners, the local adult entertainment establishment – to 'promote your career' or claw back money they lose when physical product breaks during shipping from you," with the latter (the breakage of physical product "well into the steaming age") being "amusingly on brand."

Kay added: "Perhaps Mr. Rabhan was thinking Roan is too green or uninformed to use the platform she earned to say the quiet part out loud. He couldn't be more wrong. But he did get one thing right. The music business is the toughest business on earth: brutal, mercurial, unfair. The losers give up the best years of their lives trying to figure out a magic trick, while the winners take all the marbles."

That forceful rebuttal paled, though, to Roan's own retort, which the queer artist posted on her Instagram Story – a comeback in which Roan put her money where her moxy is.

"Wanna match me $25K to support struggling artists?" Roan demanded of Rabhan. "Will keep everyone updated with the much-awaited response. I will show receipts of the donations," the singer added.

In another post, Roan declared, "Random dudes are allowed to criticize my Grammys speech, but they best put their money where their mouth is, otherwise MOVE out of the way."

Other top-list recording artists are piling on to join Roan in her campaign, with Charli xcx ponying up a $25K matching donation, reportedly inspired by singer Noah Kahan's decision to do the same, Billboard said.

"I'm inspired by you," Kahan posted. "Happy to help get the ball rolling. Money where mouth is!"

Charli xcx, in turn, echoed, "your speech at the grammys was inspiring and thoughtful and from a genuine place of care. happy to help get the ball rolling too. money where mouth is xx."

Admiringly, Kay wrote of Roan that she has "earned every second of her moment on stage and used it as wisely as anyone I've ever seen in my 35-year music career."

"Major labels, it's time to change your ways," Kay went on to say. "The shot heard 'round the world has just been fired by a 26-year-old icon."

Then, as if riffing on Roan's own biggest hit so far, Kay added: "Good luck."

Meanwhile, "the Music Healthcare Alliance's founder and CEO, Tatum Allsep, said he was 'jumping on my couch' when he heard her remarks," Billboard relayed.

"I was like, 'Gosh, thank you for bringing this up,'" Allsep said in his remarks to the music magazine. "The conversation was started."