In wake of President Trump’s executive order last week, which targeted immigration into the United States, widespread opposition to the order emerged among celebrities, organizations, and companies, alongside the legal actions taken to undermine the President.
Bandcamp, an online music distribution service, is one media company which has chosen to take a stance again Trump’s order. Aiding the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in it’s lawsuit against the immigration ban, Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond voiced his opposition by planning to donate 100% of the company’s shares from artists to the union for one day. Similarly, other artists, such as John Legend or Grimes, have donated their own share, including those acquired from Bandcamp, to the organization.
While other tech companies, such as Google or Lyft, have also donated impressive amounts to the ACLU, the stance taken by Bandcamp is interesting, especially in reference to the users and artists of the website. The music distribution website is home to thousands of independent artists – an immense amount based internationally. This is reiterated in another action taken by the website: compiling playlists including artists affected by the ban or generally, the President’s plans and rhetoric.
The creation of an international playlist was also recently done by Spotify, although it was focused more so on refugee artists both formerly and current. Including artists such as M.I.A, Wyclef Jean, or The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, the playlists exemplified the music streaming service’s solidarity with the fight for refugees against the ban (although there was some criticism for the song choices). Other artists have taken to making their own playlists, such as Four Tet, an artist with Indian and South African heritage, who developed an already existing playlist to exclusively feature artists from the countries included in the immigration ban.
While these are not actions taken my major companies within the music industry, they reflect the ideologies of many independent artists and collective consumers which oppose the actions taken by Trump. The music industry is one media outlet which is always houses ideological expression, especially in opposition to political issues within the nation.
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