Sam Fender on music industry inequality: “The kids where I’m from don’t get the money”

Sam Fender has opened up on inequalities within the music industry, calling for working-class musicians to be given a fairer shot at success.

The Tyneside singer, who will release his second album ‘Seventeen Going Under’ on October 8, joins Bastille and Lashana Lynch in gracing the cover of Rolling Stone UK’s first ever issue.

But, as he explains in our deep-dive interview, there is a need for more working class voices to emerge within the industry.

“When I meet musicians who are from quite affluent backgrounds, I find it hard not to have some sort of prejudice. I don’t want to, but I can feel a chip on my shoulder,” he said.

“It’s because the kids from where I’m from don’t get the money.”

Fender was initially discovered by Ben Howard’s manager Owain Davies during a chance meeting while pulling pints at his local pub in North Shields, The Lowlights Tavern.

“If I didn’t have a manager that found us and put money into us, and if I didn’t have the time when I was ill to write and not have to work two fucking day jobs, I don’t think I’d be here.

“Think of all the other fucking amazing, real artists, who’ve got genuine, everyday problems to write about that people will latch onto that are just sat there, but instead we’ve got fucking wet-lettuce c***s writing songs that are just so fucking shit.

“The vast majority of what we hear, what’s force fed to us, is from these toffs that have got fuck all to say. It’s boring. It’s not real life.”

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