ARTIST INDEPENDENCE DAY

HUH?

​

• We're boycotting streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Amazon, and Youtube Music) that directly profit off the lives, culture and the innovation of QTBIPOC independent artists, gaining power and ownership by using disconnecting us from the fruits of our labor. 

​

• We're educating ourselves and our communities on the importance of fair trade policies in music, art, and all that we consume. How can we be more conscious consumers and relearn ethical, sustainable practices that carry us forward? 

​

• We're redistributing wealth by sharing our digital platforms, spreading awareness, liking/commenting, and paying for music in tangible ways that directly sustain artists. We're financially supporting artists through platforms like https://bandcamp.com/ and Cash App. ​

 

• Realizing our greatest asset is each other, we are reactivated to engage in community, art, and creative expression in ways that do not isolate/drain us without fulfilling/connecting us. 

 

 + Remember that we DO NOT need these unethical digital platforms 

 + Redistribute the collective power and wealth we harness

 + Relearn how to be more conscious consumers in art and beyond

 + Reactivate our connections, creativity, interdependence, autonomy 

 

THERE’S LEVELS TO THIS

 

Artist Level:

• Start the Conversation! Educate yourselves and your audience on ethical/sustainable ways to support your art.

• Put Up Your Work! Start expanding past the basic platforms we are conditioned to gravitate toward. Create a Bandcamp, Patreon, website, and/or any platform where you can receive direct compensation/visibility/support.

• On 8/15/2021 - Do Not Stream! Promote your work and the work of fellow local independent artists. Share your art, never stop! Spread the word that we do not need exploiting extraction models to ensure our voice is heard.

• Do Not Stream! We are divesting music streaming platforms for ONE DAY, Nipsey Hussle's b'earthday. We are pulling our collective investment as the People from corporations like Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music...which do not reflect our values or meet our needs.

 

Audience Level:

• Do Not Stream! We are divesting music streaming platforms for ONE DAY, Nipsey Hussle's b'earthday. We are pulling our collective investment as the People from corporations like Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music...which do not reflect our values or meet our needs.

• Share the Work of Local Independent Artists! Use the power of your platforms to promote the music you love and the artists who make it possible. Highlight Queer Black Independent Artists who create culture industry vultures bank off of. 

• Put your Money Where your Mouth is! Redistribute funds by supporting artists on Bandcamp, Patreon, Venmo, Cashapp, Paypal, Quickpay, Zelle...anything but music streaming platforms to ensure an independent artist is able to eat that day.

 

SIGN THE PLEDGE: http://chng.it/V4RvwXq2VF

Use the Hashtag #ArtistIndependenceDay to Spread the Word!