Black Women Executives Behind #TheShowMustBePasued Release An Outline Of Demands To Push Their Initiative Forward

Two Black women music executives launched the #TheShowMustBePaused initiative following the tragic killing of George Floyd on May 25. A week later (June 2), Jamila Thomas of Atlantic Records and Brianna Agyemang of Platoon made the music business halt with their industry-wide hiatus and social media shutdown.

Since their call for accountability on social media, the pair have written out a list of demands for music companies to reply to within 30 days in an op-ed released on Billboard.

In a cover story, Thomas implied that the two phases of the outline involve “restructuring the organization within music industry companies to gain more room for growth opportunities for Black people. And that level of restructuring whittles down to transparency; action and accountability; recruitment, professional development and growth; civic engagement; and alignment and partnership.”

Read the list of demands outlined by #TheShowMustBePaused initiative below. Read through the detailed outline on Billboard.com.
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Demands.
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#TheShowMustBePaused
It has been 90 days since the black out. In the last three months, we have witnessed Black leaders promoted; financial support committed and in many cases distributed; a historic moment of solidarity in the March on Washington; and the list of companies, idealists, and collectives vowing to no longer tolerate racial injustice and inequity grow exponentially.
However, the work does not stop there.
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#TheShowMustBePaused
Equally noteworthy, is the brutal attempted murder of Jacob Blake, the killing of non-violent protestors, and the loss of many beloved leaders. Although painful, these events confirm the urgency in our continued action.
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The list of those whose action — or inaction — give way to legacies of oppression can no longer be ignored.
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From public demonstrations of unity, to the literal burning of institutions that devalue Black lives, we are witnessing a global response to injustice.
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#TheShowMustBePaused
For the last three months, we have not stopped fighting. Rather, we’ve applied a focus that solely prioritizes our destination: Progress due to radical activism.
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We spent this time galvanizing our membership, navigating difficult conversations, formalizing a plan, and now once again …
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#TheShowMustBePaused
We are not pausing now solely to stop, breathe, and think about our role in this fight.
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This is a call to action.
A call to actualize the ideals we claim to uphold as people and to advocate for change through the music industry.
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Let this serve as a proclamation to those organizations worldwide whose cornerstone is laid and foundation sustained by the potency of Black culture. Now we are making demands.
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#TheShowMustBePaused
The following list of demands reflect the collective takeaways of a braintrust composed of the current and future leaders of our field.
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We make this first round of demands to ALL organizations operating in the world of Black music.
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If you are a company that conducts business in the world of Black music we ask that you respond in 30 days.