Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy sets out plan for reparations in the music industry

"There are things the industry should still be ashamed of"

Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has set out a plan for reparations to be made within the music industry.

It comes after Tweedy last month announced that he would be donating 5% of his songwriting royalties to Black Lives Matter moving forwards.

“The modern music industry is built almost entirely on Black art. The wealth that rightfully belonged to Black artists was stolen outright and to this day continues to grow outside their communities,” he wrote at the time.

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Now, talking to Rolling Stone in a new interview, Tweedy set out his vision for a wider set of reparations from the music industry as a whole.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say our culture wouldn’t be our culture without black genius. There’s a shameful history there, and there are things the industry should still be ashamed of. There are things about the way Black artists are treated today that are different and unfair. It isn’t an equal playing field.”

Tweedy added: “I’m hoping to be able to put together a coalition of black community leaders and people within the music industry that would help me administer and direct and be somewhat of a board of trustees.

“We’re in the early stages of that, and there’s still an opportunity, in the short term, to continue the discussion as best we can with BMI, and start there, because it’s where I’m registered.”

The frontman also said that he’s looked to his children for advice on how to implement the plans, adding: “They’re both very committed to the community and the cause. They’re in a position where, like a lot of white people trying to be good allies and trying to understand what our role is moving forward, are advocating for a lot of listening and a lot of following.

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“I just think that it was important for a white artist to be the one to come out and address this openly, as a conversation starter,” he affirmed.

Tweedy’s Wilco made their comeback last year with new full-length album ‘Ode To Joy’, which NME called “a quietly triumphant return to form” in a four-star album review.

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