Following her speech at last week’s Grammys in which she urged major record labels to provide better support for their artists, Chappell Roan has announced that she is donating $25,000 to artists dropped by their record labels, prompting matched donations from Charli xcx and Noah Kahan.
The announcement arrived in response to taunts from former music industry executive Jeff Rabhan, who called Roan’s Grammys speech “green and uninformed”, and said she should “put [her] money where [her] mouth is”. In a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter, Rabhan argued that Roan “isn’t the first artist to frame herself as an outsider railing against the system”, and that labels shouldn’t “be slapped for running a business like a business.”
Responding on her Instagram story on Friday (February 7), Roan wrote: “Mr. Rabhan, I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is. @jeffrabhan wanna match me $25K to donate to struggling dropped artists? My publicist is @biz3publicity let’s talk.” Roan then continued her post by spotlighting four artists who “deserve more love and a bigger platform”: Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again and Baby Storme.
In the days following Roan’s announcement, her donations have been matched by both Brat singer Charli xcx and folk singer-songwriter Noah Kahan. “hey @chappellroan I am going to match your $25k to support artist’s access to healthcare,” Charli wrote on her Instagram story yesterday (February 9). “i saw @noahkahanmusic say that he would do the same and so i thought id follow suit. your speech at the grammys was inspiring and thoughtful and from a genuine place of care. happy to help get the ball rolling too. money where my mouth is.”
Rabhan has not yet responded to Roan’s donation.