Warner Music has announced a $100 million fund in support of social justice organisations which campaign against violence and racism and help “those in need” within the music industry.
The decision follows on from this week’s “Blackout Tuesday”, and a call to action from The Weeknd.
Warner Music has announced a $100 million fund for social justice organisations following widespread protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
The fund is in collaboration with the Blatvanik Family Foundation, established by Warner vice-chairman, Len Blavatnik.
“This fund will support the extraordinary, dedicated organizations that are on the front lines of the fight against racism and injustice, and that help those in need across the music industry,” Warner Music Group CEO, Steve Cooper described.
“Our advisory panel, which will draw from a diverse cross-section of people from our team and the wider community, will help us be very thoughtful and accountable in how we make an impact. We’re determined to contribute, on a sustained long-term basis, to the effort to bring about real change.”
The announcement comes after The Weeknd revealed that he would be donating $500,000 across three organisations (including Black Lives Matter), whilst simultaneously calling on the big three labels and streaming services to do the same. Warner is the first of the labels to announce a donation, and as of yet, there has been no word from Universal Music Group and Sony Music.
This week saw the music industry participating in “Blackout Tuesday” an initiative in which the industry paused work in order to reflect on ways they could better support the black community. The movement, which resulted in many people paying respects to the #BlackLivesMatter movement on social media, was criticised by some for taking up unnecessary space. However, if this proves to be an outcome, then it may have been successful in motivating some of the big industry players to contribute to the cause.
