On Sunday night, Chappell Roan won the Grammy for Best New Artist. During her acceptance speech, she talked pointedly about how record labels treat artists as disposable goods, failing to provide things like health insurance. From the podium she said:
I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists. Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like so many people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance. It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have health. And if my label would've prioritized artists' health, I could've been provided care by a company I was giving everything to. So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?
In the room, Roan's speech got a standing ovation. Fellow Best New Artist nominee Benson Boone jumped to his feet as if he'd been waiting for someone to say exactly that. Roan's speech was widely praised, but naturally some asshole had to come in and condescendingly explain why her demands will not be met. That asshole is Jeff Rabhan, a music executive and former chair of NYU's Clive Davis Institute Of Recorded Music. In a widely mocked Hollywood Reporter op-ed with the headline "Chappell Groan," Rabhan wrote that Roan is "far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today." He went on:
Her Grammy speech was a hackneyed and plagiarized script of an artist basking in industry love while broadcasting naïveté and taking aim at the very machine that got her there. If labels are responsible for artists’ wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin? Should Chris Blackwell 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 wrote that "record labels are business, not charities" and that Roan's demand "ignores the fundamental economic structure of the business," that it's "absurd and reeks of entitlement." Rabhan also wrote approvingly of Bill Maher's harangue against Roan's "trendy, performative activism." (Maher said that Roan shouldn't speak out in favor of Palestine because she's gay. As you might expect, Rabhan is a virulent Zionist.) Rabhan said that Roan should start a foundation or a mentorship program rather than complaining about how things currently are. His basic message was that labels don't have to change their structure, and they don't want to do it, so they won't.
Jeff Rabhan immediately got his ass ratioed. Yesterday, Halsey posted a long rebuttal to Rabhan's article on her Instagram story:
Jeff Rabhan's ranting, seething tantrum is loaded with assumptions and accusations that generalize the experience of every artist to that of the most successful... An artist like Chappell who has worked for over a decade is not an "instant industry insider" and to compare the payoff of her actions to those of an industry titan with the power and financial leverage like Taylor Swift, when Chappell hasn't even spun the block enough times to see the residuals of her long earned but sudden success, is irresponsible for someone with your experience in this industry. Shame on you. Boot licking behavior.
Halsey defends Chappell Roan in a new Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/aqJwHOJhco
— ? (@concertleaks) February 6, 2025
Today, Chappell Roan responded on her own Instagram story. In a couple of slides, Roan challenged Jeff Rabhan to put up some financial aid of his own: "@jeffrabhan wanna match me $25k to donate to struggling dropped artists? My publicist is @biz3publicity let's talk. Will keep everyone updated on the much awaited @jeffrabhan response!! And I will show receipts of the donations. Mr Rabhan I love how in the article you said 'put your money where your mouth is' Genius!!! Let's link and build together and see if you can do the same."
UPDATE: Rabhan, Noah Kahan, Charli XCX, and Nirvana respond…
Jeff Rabhan playing the victim in his response to Chappell asking him to match her $25k donation
byu/solarpowersme inchappellroan
