LA Fire Disaster Relief From MusiCares

0:06Pushkin. I'm really grateful for you taking the time to speak with me real quick about what you guys are doing. I mean, Music Cares, to my mind, has always been such a great resource for the music community. Many people have many things to say about the big, bad record industry. I feel like Music Cares, though, might be one of the true oasises within that industry where it's just like, you know, you guys do so much good stuff. And it's been a wild week in L.A. and everyone's affected. But being as we're a music podcast and we have people who are musicians who listen and people who are in the area who are affected, I just thought it might be nice to get a quick chat with you about how you guys are helping.

0:51And, you know, if anyone's listening who might need help, that you guys are a resource for them. Well, first of all, Justin, let me just tell you how much I love your podcast. And it means a lot that you take a moment to bring us out here and to feature us a little bit. Thank you. You know, I'm amazed you know who Music Cares is. We don't really do marketing. We just started social media, what, I think a year or two ago. You know, so it's hard for us in an organization to sometimes get our own story out there. So we really appreciate you giving us an opportunity to speak. Of course. Yeah, we were leading into Grammy Week, which is normally a very busy time of the year for all of the various Grammy organizations.

1:29Music Cares was founded by the Recording Academy about 35 years ago. And so we're one of their affiliates. We are a 501c3 charity. And so we have our big fundraiser during Grammy week. It's called Music Cares Person of the Year. It usually takes place the Friday before the big telecast. So it's sort of like the charity gala of Grammy week. So it's already a taxing time period. And Music Cares, you know, over half of our operating budget is raised that night. You know, our ability to do our year-round Music Cares mission happens because of that charity gala every year. So you can imagine the pressure around that.

2:09And so the tragedy that started to unfold last week has really been a massive pivot for the organization. I mean, I guess on one hand, it's a beautiful thing that we're on the brink of our fundraising gala because, you know, the monies we raise go directly back into the music community. But on the other hand, it's just I mean, there's no good way to really look at it. It's just a terrible disaster and it's terrible timing for everyone involved. Yeah. What are some of the ways you imagine being able to help? Because, you know, of course, there's like the immediate disaster that's presently ongoing and hopefully getting on the way to contained.

2:46But there's, you know, a whole multi-year sort of fallout of this where, you know, people just be out of homes and have lost equipment. And this is all new. But how do you guys imagine you might be able to help? And who are the kinds of people who should be looking to you guys for assistance? assistance. Yeah. Oh, good questions, Justin. And your instincts are right. Disasters aren't just these moments of crisis where the disaster is actually happening. Disaster relief, unfortunately, it has a very long tail. The stories go on because, you know, crises hit people in different ways. There's not just, you know, one cookie cutter way and health and human services organization like ours can help people.

3:27So what normally happens is we have a first round of aid that goes out and we try to standardize that as much as possible. This, you know, we do that. We've been doing disaster relief since Hurricane Katrina. And, you know, so this is very similar type of protocol we, we put into place. For example, we were already still doing disaster relief on Florida and the Carolinas for the storms this last fall. We did this during COVID as well. And usually there's an initial relief effort, right? So So that's like a standardized, in our case,$1 ,500 financial assistance grant and a$500 grocery gift card that's ATF restricted, which means you can't buy things other than groceries with it.

4:07And we have that first sort of standard round because we know people are still, in this case, evacuated or, you know, without access to utilities. Kids are out of school. Things are different levels happening to a lot of people. And so we just try to get out as quick as we can those first initial rounds of relief. And then you're right, we move into sort of recovery resiliency services in coming months, even a year out, longer than that. It really depends because right now people are still evacuated. So one person might go home and they've lost their entire home. Another person might go back and realize, oh, my goodness, my home was saved, but, you know, I have smoke damage or something else.

4:47Right. So the full scope of the disaster that we're looking at right now is not we just don't know. It's not been fully revealed to any one of us that are involved. So your instincts are right. It goes on far more than just this moment of disaster relief where it's important just to think about people's food, their shelter, their safety, things of that nature. And then we move into services like mental health, addiction recovery, you know, instrument replacement, equipment replacement. We help with insurance claims, things of that nature. Wow. Who are the kinds of people that I guess can reach out to Music Cares for those kinds of basic needs in the short term?

5:28So our mission is specifically for music professionals. We ask people to demonstrate in this, in disaster relief scenarios, three years of working in music in any capacity. So it doesn't have to be a musician or a creator or a performer. It could be anyone who works in some form or fashion in the music industry. Could work in publishing, for instance. It could work in publishing, a label executive. They could be, you know, live tour crew. Really any facet of the music industry, we can support with our services. And we ask people to reach out to us at musiccaresrelief at musiccares.org. Just tell us your situation.

6:06Let us know what's going on. Where are you right now? Are you safe? Do you have your basic needs met? What is it that we can help you with if people are willing to share a broader narrative of what's going on? If maybe they already know they've lost their homes. and then we have sort of an approval and vetting process and at that point then we'll release those initial rounds of relief. There's another group of people who I imagine might be listening who aren't musicians or they might not be directly affected by what's happening and they might be wondering where they can give money. Do you guys accept donations?

6:39Yeah we are a public charity so We accept donations. We need donations. I mean, I think we already have well over 2 ,000 people who have come to us saying they need help. And we're still in the active crisis currently. And, you know, if we were to just get out that first round of aid to them, I'm trying to do the math in my head. You know, that's at least$4 million already right there in just this first round of aid. So definitely could use support if people are in a position to give. our donation page is music cares.org slash fire relief okay amazing well thank you so much i don't know is there anything else that you think people should know or anything that'd be useful for you guys to get out in terms of your mission and well one more thing i'd love to share if i could is just that you know we're here all year long and we we work with music people in times of their own personal crises or even just in the, you know, preventative healthcare, things of that nature or health and human services organization.

7:40So I just would love our community to know whatever part of music you happen to work in, Music Cares is there for you and that you can come to us anytime. Not, it doesn't have to be disaster related moments. So I just love people to know that, you know, to check out our website, musiccares.org and know that we're here for anyone should they need them, that help. Always really grateful that you guys do that work because, you know, none of us get into the arts because we're necessarily, you know, financially, you know, financial wizards that we know how to take care of ourselves and plan for retirement or handle health care needs.

8:17You know, it's like sometimes we're just driven by a passion and all these other things in life, of course, come up, whether they're moments of personal crisis or disaster events like this fire or Katrina. You know, and so really grateful that you guys exist and can help in times like this and in more kind of mundane times. Yeah. Oh, so appreciate that. Yeah. It's it's not an easy path for sure, but we need that passion. You know, that passion is what makes music as an art possible. And so music cares exist because we respect the power of music in the world and we need people to keep making it.

8:51So, yeah, certainly let us know if anyone out there needs some help. Incredible. Thanks so much, Laura. And we'll have all this information in the episode description. So if anyone who's listening wants to donate, they can check it out. Or if they need help, they can reach out to you guys. Great. Thank you again for having us here. We're big fans. We're excited when you reached out. Thank you. No, no, no. I'm big fans of what you guys do. So, yeah, really grateful. Thanks, guys.