Garbage’s Shirley Manson Calls Touring ‘Unsustainable’ For Working Musicians: ‘They’re All F**king Getting Paid, Except For The Musician’

Garbage’s Shirley Manson says touring has become “unsustainable” for most musicians, calling out the industry’s streaming inequality.

Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson is sounding off on the harsh financial reality facing working musicians. During the band’s October 12 show at the Mission Ballroom in Denver (in what’s being billed as their final headline North American tour), Manson told the audience that touring like they have no longer makes sense for a band like hers.

“It has become entirely unsustainable for a band like us to come and tour anywhere except the coasts,” Manson said.

The singer used the moment during Garbage’s to deliver a pointed critique of how the modern music industry treats non-superstar artists. “Most of the music industry is not made of these big pop stars. They’re made of working musicians,” she said. “And this is not a pity party for us. This is an alarm call for all the young generations of musicians who are in our wake and we feel duty bound to speak up for because there’s nobody speaking up for them.”

She cited the lack of fair pay from streaming platforms as a major factor, claiming that “the average musician makes $12 a month on Spotify.” Manson said she’s brought up the issue “every night” on tour to highlight how little protection or advocacy exists for artists trying to make a living.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Loudly Inclusive (@loudlyinclusive)

“They’re sleeping in their vans. They’re holding down numerous jobs. And they’re playing their guts out every night,” the Garbage frontwoman said. “The fact that they are not even able to sell a record and it’s taken from them by rich motherf**ers on streaming platforms who get paid royally by record labels, who get paid royally by Ticketmaster, who get paid royally by merch companies, who get paid royally. The list goes on and on and on. There’s accountants, there’s lawyers, they’re all f**king getting paid, except for the musician.”

Spotify previously stated it paid out $4.5 billion to independent rights holders in 2023, nearly half of its total $9 billion in payouts that year.

Garbage, who released their eighth studio album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light in May, are currently on their Happy Endings Tour, set to wrap November 14 at Corona Capital in Mexico City. The band are set to hit Australian shores for Good Things Festival in December, with sideshows recently announced for Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide (as well as Auckland in NZ).

Manson closed her speech with a warning: “You are the ones who will lose out on a generation of esoteric, risk-taking, creative, adventurous weirdos, rebels, agitators, provocateurs. You’re gonna get f**king white bread.”