During the course of the covid-19 pandemic, MusicCares — Recording Academy Charity Wing — distributed more than $25 million in aid for people in the music community. And less than two weeks after wildfires began ravaging Los Angeles, it has already raised $3.2 million in relief aid and distributed about $2.2 million of that to people in need, a representative confirmed. Amount — and that’s before FireAid’s benefit concerts next Thursday, before their own Benefit Person of the Year from MusiCares the following day and before Grammys themselveswhich will include bushfire fundraising and awareness. Many more millions are likely to be on their way to musicians in need early next month.
Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said Amount On Tuesday, January 8, the day the fires became serious, “MusiCares started receiving requests, and there are now thousands of music people who need help. We needed to figure out how we were going to be there to help serve a music community, so in addition to (moving forward with Grammys ourselves), we’ve raised over $3 million so far, and all of that money is invested and spoken for—and we’re going to need a lot more.”
People don’t have to be Recording Academy members to get help: They just need to provide documentation that they’ve been working on music for at least three years or have six commercially released recordings. Initial disaster assistance includes $1,500 in financial assistance and a $500 food stamp. (Go here for more information and how to apply.)
Mason continues, “I was lucky, but when I see people and friends of mine who have lost their studio, lost their house, lost their instruments, lost their ability to make a living, after all the struggle and struggle that has happened to people in this community over the last five years, I say we need to do everything we can to be helpful, that means raising money, that means raising awareness, and hopefully allowing MusiCares to have the financial resources that it will require to support the thousands and thousands of people who will need help – not just this week or next week, but for the next few weeks.”
