Sam Fender: The industry is "rigged" in favour of "privately educated" musicians
24 February 2025, 11:36
The musician believes that artists from working class backgrounds find it impossible to break through.
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Sam Fender claims the music industry is "rigged" in favour of artists from privileged backgrounds.
The musician - who released his long-awaited third album People Watching on Friday - told the Sunday Times that the industry"is 80 per cent, 90 per cent kids who are privately educated".
He went on: "A kid from where I’m from can’t afford to tour, so there are probably thousands writing songs that are ten times better than mine, poignant lyrics about the country, but they will not be seen because it’s rigged."
The North Shields-born singer-songwriter, whose first two albums, Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Under both went to Number 1 in the UK claimed that class prejudice was still a problem.
He explained: "People are very unaware. We are very good at talking about privileges – white, male or straight privilege. We rarely talk about class, though.
"And that’s a lot of the reason that all the young lads are seduced by demagogues like Andrew Tate.
"They’re being shamed all the time and made to feel like they’re a problem. It’s this narrative being told to white boys from nowhere towns.
"People preach to some kid in a pit town in Durham who’s got f**k all and tell him he’s privileged? Then Tate tells him he’s worth something? It’s seductive."
Sam Fender's People Watching is out now. Watch the video to new track Remember My Name here.
Sam Fender — Remember My Name (Official Video)
See Sam Fender's 2025 UK dates:
- 6th June – London Stadium, Stratford (w/ The War on Drugs + CMAT)
- 12th June – St. James’ Park, Newcastle (w/ CMAT)
- 14th June – St. James’ Park, Newcastle (w/ The War on Drugs + CMAT)
- 15th June – St. James’ Park, Newcastle (w/ The War on Drugs + CMAT)
- 16th August - Wythenshawe Park, Manchester (with Olivia Dean)
- 22nd August - Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh (with Olivia Dean)
- 28th August - Vital Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast (with CMAT)
Fender's European tour in support of the People Watching album kicks off in Paris on 4th March and will move on to North America in April. He's also due to play a number of European festivals across the summer, including Hurricane and Southside in German and Lisbon's NOS Alive.
