“It’s Time We Listen”: Wavy Music News Launches Donor Survey, Echoing Chappell Roan’s Call for Living Wages in Music
By Rebecca Autumn Sansom
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Chappell Roan made headlines not just for her wins, but for her bold message: “Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance… Labels, we got you, but do you got us?” As artists worldwide applauded Roan’s honesty about an industry that often leaves even its brightest stars struggling, her words struck a chord here at The Wavys.
For five years, The Wavys has devoted itself to a wild experiment: building a music ecosystem where artists aren’t left in the margins, but at the very heart. We’ve done this by hosting award shows, putting on high-profile showcases in NYC, and offering workshops and soon wellness benefits exclusively for artists. Yet, we know that without real financial support for artists, change can only go so far.
That’s why we’re launching an open-ended Donor Survey—a direct invitation for you to co-create the next era of The Wavys. Your input will help us shape a campaign designed not only to sustain our programming, but to set a living wage baseline for the creatives who drive it. How? By helping us build a nest egg that enables fair payment, matching funds, and low-risk, high-benefit participation for every artist who steps on our stage.
We aren’t interested in replicating old models where the label—and only the label—prospers. Chappell Roan’s Grammy speech isn’t just a call for industry reform. It’s a challenge to all of us to envision a system where musicians don’t just survive, but thrive; (thrive and let thrive has been our motto for years) where compensation isn’t a privilege—it’s a right.
If you’re a longtime supporter, emerging donor, or care about what the future of music looks like, we want to hear from you. Complete our Donor Survey, tell us your priorities, and help us build a more humane, equitable path for music—one that takes Chappell’s call to action from the Grammys right into the everyday lives of working musicians.
Let’s disrupt the sh*t out of as many broken systems as possible during this era of what seems like collapse. Let’s build a world that is safe for women, children, and marginalized people. Let’s create living wage pathways for artists, together.
