Statement from UMAW in @pitchfork.com as Ticketmaster-Live Nation is found to be an illegal monopoly

No one needs this! Reject AI! Join UMAW!

What a fucking nightmare.

The current music industry only serves the billionaires and tech bros. Musicians and music workers can take back the power from these massive corporations if we ORGANIZE!

via @deadline.com

Just visibility is not enough — we must build a music industry that uplifts and supports all people and all workers, including our trans comrades. We can build it together!

Today is Trans Day of Visibility. We are indebted to the trans musicians & music workers who have fought for trans rights for years, and who have revolutionized and expanded the music industry. Bring a trans artist on tour! Hire a trans music worker! Support your trans peers!

Tell Congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act! Spotify and other music streaming services must pay artists fairly. Musicians create the enormous wealth that streaming companies like Spotify generate for their CEOs and the major record record labels year after year. But while the rich keep getting richer in the mus...

Tell Congress to pass the LWMA: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

Suno is producing 7M AI songs per day. Streaming services are being flooded with AI slop, diluting the revenue pool and further decreasing payouts for artists. We need the Living Wage for Musicians Act! The new, additional LWMA royalty would only be available to human musicians.

Mikey Shulman wants producers and songwriters to use his exploitative AI tools so badly that he’s trying to convince everyone they already are. Resist AI in music! Don’t give in to these hacks!

meme via @mattxiv.bsky.social

Do AI music companies next!!!

Lorde has exited her 17-year long contract with Universal.

A 12-year-old child should not have to decide if she wants to enter into a multi-decade record contract, especially with a major label known for predatory deals.

Image via the ISM

We need IMMEDIATE PROTECTIONS for artists against AI!

UMAW'S FAIR PAY AT SXSW 2026 PROTEST SHOW FREE WITH RSVP ON THIS PAGE. Join UMAW to again tell SXSW: Fair pay and no warmongers! Artists at this year's show: Viva Palestina Orchestra Jack Powers Touch Girl Apple Blossom Witches Exist ...

RSVP for free entry: actionnetwork.org/events/umaws...

TONIGHT! See you at Hole in the Wall at 8pm for the Fair Pay and No Warmongers at SXSW show 💪

TODAY! See you at 11am 💪

Spotify's new CEO Gustav Söderström is giving a keynote address at SXSW tomorrow. @umaw.bsky.social will be holding a picket outside.

Live Nation Can ‘Gouge’ Fans on Fees, Ticketing Executives Boast Two Live Nation Entertainment Inc. executives bragged about the high fees the company charges fans at its venues, joking in internal messages that the company is “robbing them blind” and that “these p...

Internal messages from Live Nation reveal two execs talking about "robbing [fans] blind."

“These people are so stupid. I almost feel bad taking advantage of them," one says.

That man is now the head of ticketing for the unit responsible for Live Nation's 150 amphitheaters.

If you’re in Austin this week, join us for the NO WARMONGERS IN MUSIC rally outside of the new Spotify CEO’s SXSW keynote address. 3/13 at 11am. Spotify must cut ties with war profiteers and end their complicity with Israeli apartheid and genocide!

We need the LWMA now! We can do better than mealy-mouthed excuses and settling for the way things are. We can build a fairer and more just music industry!

Join UMAW and let’s build it together 💪

Spotify prides themselves on transparency, but their “transparency” is meaningless if it doesn’t answer the real questions and enact meaningful change. Why is Spotify engaging in war profiteering? Why won’t they pay artists fairly?

Spotify has faced backlash for running ICE recruitment ads and IDF recruitment ads. They’ve been added to the BDS consumer boycott target list. They’ve been called out, over and over again, for the poverty wages they pay the majority of their artists.

The Living Wage for Musicians Act would create a new, additional royalty that goes DIRECTLY to artists. Our aim is a penny per stream — TRIPLE what Spotify currently pays. It would be the largest material gain for artists since the beginning of the streaming era.

Every year, Spotify releases “Loud and Clear” — coincidentally on the anniversary of when UMAW delivered our demands to their door. They come up with excuses, ignoring the reality that Spotify exploits musicians! The majority of artists are paid poverty wages. That must change.

UMAW'S FAIR PAY AT SXSW 2026 PROTEST SHOW FREE WITH RSVP ON THIS PAGE. Join UMAW to again tell SXSW: Fair pay and no warmongers! Artists at this year's show: Viva Palestina Orchestra Jack Powers Touch Girl Apple Blossom Witches Exist ...

actionnetwork.org/events/umaws...

Thrilled to add HIKES to the UMAW SXSW protest show this year! RSVP link in bio - the show is free but RSVP is required. MARCH 15th at Hole in the Wall! See you there! 💪❤️