Republic Records has decided to ban the use of the term “urban” within the label’s verbiage. The music label shared the news in a statement shared on Instagram.
“Effective immediately, Republic Records will remove ‘URBAN’ from our verbiage in describing departments, employee titles, and music genres,” the label announced.” We encourage the rest of the music industry to follow suit as it is important to shape the future of what we want it to look like, and not adhere to the outdated structures of the past.” The label represents major talent like Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and Taylor Swift.
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Republic’s announcement followed a day after music executive Lucas Keller, who shared that his entertainment management company, Milk & Honey, would eliminate the use of the term.
The use of “urban” began in the mid-70s and, over the years, has evolved into a way for industry execs to marginalize black artists by lumping them into one generalized category, according to Billboard.
” Change starts at home. Therefore, we, here at Milk & Honey, have decided to formally ELIMINATE the term ‘urban’ at our company,” his statement read. “We will no longer be using the term, as we believe it’s an important step forwards, and an outdated word, which has no place in 2020 onwards,” Keller said.
