Spotify, Bandcamp, SiriusXM and more are meeting the moment with a range of initiatives. As protests sparked by the death of 46-year-old Minneapolis resident George Floyd heated up this weekend, music companies began making statements in support of the movement to end police brutality against black Americans. On Friday, a number of companies and artists began sharing a statement posted under the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused, which calls for “a day to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community” and “an urgent step of action to provoke accountability and change.” Started by Atlantic Records marketing executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, who are both black, the call for a day of action — which is now being called “Black Out Tuesday” — sparked other compa...
Bandcamp announced that it will be donating 100% of its sales on Juneteenth to the NAACP. In the announcement by Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond, the company said it will honor the date by repeating this practice every year. Juneteenth, which is June 19, is recognized as the date of the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy in 1865 and was two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln first issued the Emancipation Proclamation. “The recent killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the ongoing state-sanctioned violence against black people in the US and around the world are horrific tragedies. We stand with those rightfully demanding justice, equality, and change, and people of color everywhere who l...