Universal Music Group launches new mental health fund

Universal Music Group has announced the launch of a new music health fund in partnership with the Music Health Alliance – find out more below.

• READ MORE: On The Cover – Chappell Roan: the pop supernova who feels like one of the ‘Drag Race’ girls

Yesterday (February 13), Universal Music Group revealed the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, which will provide mental health services to current and former music professionals across the US, even those not signed with or connected to the label.

The partnership builds upon both companies’ previous four-year healthcare program through personalised recommendations for mental health counsellors, grants to offset costs and funding resource recommendations if necessary to ensure the continuation of care through additional financial and mental health support.

Besides the services provided through the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, the MHA also provides dental care resources, individual and family health insurance, senior care support, vision care resources and more.

UMG and the MHA have in the past served “nearly 1,000 clients and saved them more than $12.5million in healthcare costs” – for more information on the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, visit here.

It is currently unclear if the fund will be expanded to include professionals across the world.

The fund’s announcement comes shortly after former NME Cover star Chappell Roan won her first Grammy at this year’s ceremony on February 3. While collecting the award for Best New Artist, she called out the music industry and “demanded that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and health care, especially developing artists.”

The speech earned a standing ovation from those in attendance and a groundswell of support on social media. Not all figures in the music industry have been supportive of Roan’s call for better support for artists though. Jeffrey Rabhan – a longtime music executive and former Chair of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute – responded to her words in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, calling her Grammys speech “misguided” and “uninformed”.

The ‘Good Luck, Babe’ singer then hit out at Rabhan herself, posting a screenshot of his article in which he claimed the Missouri pop star was “no longer a struggling artist” and should “do something about” the wealth disparity “rather than talk about it”.

Since then, Roan has shared more comments about what has now turned into a crowdfunding campaign, and said that she hoped for change for the industry rather than donations from fans and artists – Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Noah Kahan have all pledged $25,000 in donations, matching Chappell’s amount to industry non-profit group Backline.

“Sharing my personal experience on the Grammy stage wasn’t meant to be a crowdfunded bandaid but a call to action to the leaders of the industry to step up, help us make real change and protect their investments in a sustainable way,” she said on Instagram Stories.

“Fans, y’all don’t have to donate a damn penny. This is one of many opportunities for the industry powers to show up for artists. There is much more work to be done.”

More recently, Ariana Grande weighed in on the discussion too, and urged that entertainment companies include mental health services in artist contracts.

“It’s so important that these record labels, these studios, these TV studios, these big production companies make it a part of the contract when you sign on to do something that’s going to change your life in that way, on that scale. You need a therapist to be seeing several times a week,” she said.

“When these people are cast in these life-changing roles, or when they get that record deal, when they get that moment, that should be non-negotiable in the contract,” Grande continued. “Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve.”