Music

The 1975’s Matt Healy Calls Paid Meet And Greets A Gross Way To ‘Monetise Human Connection’

He equated paid meet and greens to telling fans, "Rich kids, you line up on the left. Poor kids, just fuck off'."

by Jared Richards  29 March 2019
The 1975's Matt Healy

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Paid meet and greets have become a norm for stadium acts — even when they sometimes aren’t too natural. But The 1975’s Matt Healy has slammed the concept today, calling them a cheap way to ‘monetise human connection’.

The band’s lead singer took to Twitter today to went about it, pointing out that artists shouldn’t only meet their fans if they are making money to do so.

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“Who came up with payed [sic] meet and greets?,” he wrote. “Did they think “Surely there must be something else we can monetise……..OH! Human connection!! They’ll eat that up!”

“MEET YOUR FANS OR DON’T DON’T ONLY MEET THEM IF YOU’RE GETTING PAYED HONESTLY WHAT ARE YOU DOING.”

He reached the topic after retweeting Enter Shikari lead singer Rou Reyno, who joked that a video of Pope Francis visibly recoiling when worshippers kissed his ring was the equivalent of bands charging for m&gs.

He went on to elaborate: rather than blaming a single artist, Healy says that major labels have “normalised” the m&g, meaning artists don’t realise they are exchanging a 30-second interaction for what at times can be hundreds of dollars.

“They should make all fans pay in cash — directly to the artist,” he wrote. “They should literally hand over the $200. Would soon stop.”

When a fan replied to argue that some bands make money from M&G, Healy disagreed.

“You can’t be big enough for people to want to pay to meet you whilst not being big enough to pay for touring,” he wrote. “It’s a paradoxical excuse for making MUSIC EXLCUISVE [sic]. “Rich kids, you line up on the left. Poor kids, just fuck off’.”

It’s far from the first time Healy’s used his position to call out something. Back in February, he condemned the music industry’s misogyny in a short statement while accepting The 1975’s Brit award for Best British Act.

It’s safe to say there’s no meet and greet ticket for The 1975’s upcoming Australian tour this September. Read his tweets below.