{"id":5499,"date":"2024-12-05T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/?p=5499"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:09:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T17:09:54","slug":"this-celebrity-is-flashing-her-bum-to-save-the-music-industry-its-a-punk-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/2024\/12\/05\/this-celebrity-is-flashing-her-bum-to-save-the-music-industry-its-a-punk-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this singer is ‘flashing her ass’ to save the music industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-post-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Black Han Sans|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”46px” header_letter_spacing=”4px” custom_margin=”25px||5px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Kate Nash is flashing her arse to save the music industry<\/span><\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-wrap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|on||||||” text_text_color=”#808080″ text_font_size=”16px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

‘Major labels make billions while musicians are getting poorer,’ she tells Grazia.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Words by Georgia Aspinall<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1640425707.jpg” alt=”Kate Nash” title_text=”Victorious Festival 2023″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

When Kate Nash announced she had started an OnlyFans to help fund her music tour, she all but broke the internet. \u2018Don\u2019t be sad,\u2019 she wrote on Instagram. \u2018It\u2019s very empowering and selling pics of my arse is fun and funny, sex is fun and funny.\u2019<\/p>\n

The response was unsurprisingly divisive. While industry friends like Self-Esteem and Alison Brie praised Nash\u2019s decision, others questioned how \u2018empowering\u2019 it is. And while much of the resulting debate was thoughtful and inquisitive, some was undoubtedly steeped in sexism.<\/p>\n

Shame around sex work was prevalent, as though Nash choosing to start an OnlyFans is any different to her having a second job down the pub or in her local supermarket. When you look at it that way the question goes from \u2018why OnlyFans?\u2019 to \u2018Why at all?\u2019. The fact someone at Nash\u2019s level of success even needs a side hustle is surely concerning. There is, Nash explains, something fundamentally broken in the music industry that artists are routinely forced to fund their careers in other ways.<\/p>\n

\u2018Touring costs so much money these days it makes losses not profits, you end up hoping that you\u2019ll sell enough merch to make up the losses, get out of the red zone and make nothing,\u2019 she tells Grazia. \u2018That\u2019s just an unsustainable business model. The cost of travel, food, hiring a van or bus, hotels, crew wages, hiring gear, everything has gone up, but musicians wages haven\u2019t, and our recorded music has never been worth so little to us.<\/p>\n

Nash funds most of her music and touring herself. She has a crew and band of 10 people, with touring costs amounting to an average of \u00a310,000 a day. \u2018My fees come in under that too,\u2019 she explains. \u2018And that\u2019s just bringing a backdrop with my name on it for show production, no extra lights and stripped back as much as possible.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

I refuse to diminish the quality of my show and I want to pay my crew fairly<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

She refuses to diminish the quality of her show by lowering the budget any further \u2013 not when she could just, as she puts it, flash her arse online instead. \u2018I need extra income to take the stress out of [touring],\u2019 she says. \u2018And to pay my band and crew fairly, to put on high quality shows for my fans. I like flashing my arse and I know a few people that run their own adult film companies or work on OnlyFans, and I thought it was a fun way to start the tour \u201cButts 4 tour buses\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

She was surprised by the attention she received with her announcement, not least because many musicians have OnlyFans now. Earlier this year, Lily Allen claimed that she\u2019s earned more selling feet pictures on OnlyFans than she ever has from Spotify streams. Rapper Cardi B reportedly made more than \u00a345million during her short stint on the site and Iggy Azalea is said to make more than \u00a313million a month.<\/p>\n

For Nash, it\u2019s about more than just money – she wants to make a statement about the state of the music industry. \u2018The music industry is corrupt, broken and has failed artists completely,\u2019 she explains. \u2018The level of success that is required to make profit has become so inaccessible for most people. The major labels have set it up so that themselves and a bunch of tech bros can profit in the millions and even billions and musicians are getting poorer.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not ok because it excludes working class people from entering the business,\u2019 she continues. \u2018It means that indie, mid-level and smaller artists are left struggling and will most likely look for other jobs when they hit their 30s. It\u2019s a feminist issue because female musicians that want kids will likely have to give up music if they want children.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a race and sexuality issue too, she says. \u2018There is so much discrimination and we need to financially empower people for their own work. Economically it\u2019s not just bad for musicians, it\u2019s bad for the entire country. Something like one in 10 tracks that are listened to most in the world are by British artists and only about a 30th of that money comes back to the UK. It\u2019s a disservice to the entire country and I think it\u2019s a disgrace. Things should be better now than they were 20 years ago, but we are in crisis I\u2019m not sure what makes the UK great if we lose our music culture and grassroots. It\u2019s really sad. 125 venues in the UK closed last year and more will fall. If bands keep cancelling tours, then we lose more venues, and more jobs are at stake. Van and bus drivers, roadies, sound engineers, lighting engineers, tour managers, people that own gear hire companies, rehearsal rooms, managers, videographers, photographers, the list goes on. Financially we are responsible for everyone in the industry, yet we are being ripped off.\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2186868553.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” alt=”Kate Nash” title_text=”Kate Nash Performs At Leeds Beckett Student Union” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Photo: <\/b>GETTY<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

For the record, she doesn\u2019t think anything about what she\u2019s doing is shameful. \u2018It\u2019s funny because I grew up watching Barbara Windsor flashing her bum and boobs all the time in Carry on films and I would sit there and watch that with my Nan and Grandad,\u2019 she laughs. \u2018Carry on films were completely acceptable and watched on a Sunday afternoon.\u2019<\/p>\n

In fact, the sneering reaction goes beyond just stigma around sex work \u2013 it\u2019s indicative of larger attitudes towards female sexual agency. \u2018If a woman earns her own money and has complete control over her body and sexuality certain people don\u2019t seem to like it,\u2019 Nash says. \u2018We\u2019re very indoctrinated about sex and society expects certain things from us. It\u2019s sad because you\u2019ll likely feel freer and have better sex if you have an open mind. And I respect sex workers very much. I don\u2019t know if you can class me as a sex worker but I\u2019m fine with it if someone wants to. I just think a woman can make her own choices and it\u2019s not for someone else to tell me what empowers me. I\u2019m literally the one experiencing it and I\u2019m a 37-year-old woman.\u2019<\/p>\n

The debate around how empowering OnlyFans is has been an entirely more complicated aspect, with some accusing Nash of being \u2018tone deaf\u2019 for working in an industry that women are routinely exploited in. It seems like a lot to put on her shoulders, but how does she feel about it?<\/p>\n

\u2018I think there is exploitation in every facet of life, and I obviously deeply care about women\u2019s issues and have always been an outspoken advocate and supporter of women\u2019s rights and sex workers rights,\u2019 Nash says. \u2018I don\u2019t think that limiting workers\u2019 rights is ever the right thing to do. Sex work has been around forever and always will be, I don\u2019t believe you will erase it so empowering people that do sex work will help to protect and empower sex workers. I think there are 2twoseparate issues that have been conflated because people are shocked by sex work and want to control it. It\u2019s like saying to get rid of nail salons and stop people doing nails in order to prevent people being human trafficked in nail salons. Of course I want to see an end to human trafficking. I also believe that sex workers deserve to have rights and the choice to do sex work if they want to. I don\u2019t think that you can really comment on whether an individual has agency if they are telling you they do. It\u2019s not your experience. A lot of things in life aren\u2019t just \u201cgood\u201d or just \u201cbad\u201d and I think people try to reduce things to these black and white arguments which is reductive and ignorant in my opinion. I\u2019m not sure who it helps.\u2019<\/p>\n

Creating content on the road, Nash has been snapping pics in fun and spontaneous locations, she says. \u2018It\u2019s like \u201cooh that\u2019s a fun wall let\u2019s shoot there\u201d or a flash before I go on stage or in a dressing room,\u2019 she says. \u2018On tour there is always somewhere fun and interesting looking to get creative and cheeky. I\u2019ve done a little bit at home too. It\u2019s been easy and casual to shoot but I\u2019m also interested in setting up something a little higher in production value, I love to be creative, and I love photo shoots.\u2019<\/p>\n

Could her bum save the music industry? The success of her punk protest, as she calls it, depends on if the government listens and steps in. \u2018Lisa Nandy, the secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, has the opportunity to change everything on the live music and streaming side of things and I\u2019m really rooting for her,\u2019 Nash says. \u2018I think she has the chance to become the coolest person in music history in decades. She could literally save counterculture and become a legend. I believe she can rise to the challenge and do something really phenomenal in this pivotal moment.\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Major labels are making billions while musicians get poorer,’ she told Grazia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5499"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5515,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5499\/revisions\/5515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}