Industry Observes ‘Black Out Tuesday’
• UPDATED: The music industry is hitting “pause” on its regular weekly business and sending a powerful message of solidarity in response to last week’s tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis — coming on the heels of the recent and equally senseless deaths Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery — by observing “Black Out Tuesday” tomorrow.
As reported by Deadline and other sources, a wide variety of music industry-related businesses — ACM, Atlantic Records, Big Loud, Big Machine Label Group, BMG, CAA, Capitol Music Group, Columbia Records, Curb, Def Jam, Disney Music Group, Elektra Music Group, HitCo, Interscope Geffen A&M, Island Records, Monument, Music Choice, Pulse Music Group, RCA, Reservoir, Republic Records, RIAA, Riser House, Sony/ATV, Sony Music, Virgin EMI, Universal Music Group and Warner Records, among others, have committed to halting business activity for the day.
The hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused began circulating on social media last Friday. Variety reports the initiative, created by Atlantic Records executive Jamila Thomas and Platoon’s Brianna Agyemang calls for Tuesday, June 2, as “a day to take a beat for an honest, reflective and productive conversation about what actions we need to collectively take to support the Black community.” They added, “The music industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. An industry that has profited predominantly from Black art. Our mission is to hold the industry at large, including major corporations + their partners who benefit from the efforts, struggles and successes of Black people accountable… This is not just a 24-hour initiative. We are and will be in this fight for the long haul. A plan of action will be announced.”
Many of the major labels posted powerful statements on Instagram in support of Black Out Tuesday — those strong feelings were likely best encapsulated in a line from Columbia Records’ statement, that read, in part, “Perhaps with the music off, we can truly listen.”
• In lockstep with the label’s actions, Mediabase will not be accepting adds tomorrow. In a statement, Mediabase said, “In solidarity with the community, for a time of reflection and meaningful action, Mediabase will close Add Board for this week. Auto Adds will not process this week. Any station that has already reported adds will need to report them again next week.”
