British musician and producer Labrinth has received widespread support from fellow artists after publicly criticising the music industry and his record label, Columbia. In a now-deleted social media post, he declared he was “done” with the industry, using strong language against Columbia and the TV show Euphoria, for which he composed the score for its first two seasons.
In a subsequent post, Labrinth, whose real name is Timothy Lee McKenzie, elaborated on his disillusionment, describing musicians as “snakes waiting to eat their owners” and lamenting that pure creativity is turned into “business transactions”. He wrote: “We have meaningful relationships with like-minded people and discard them as soon as a bigger opportunity arrives.” He urged others to reject the notion that “fake ain’t a good business plan”.
Notable figures including producer Diplo, pop star Dove Cameron, and singers Natasha Bedingfield, India Arie, and Will Young voiced their support in the comments. Diplo called Labrinth “the realest creative I have ever met”, while Cameron said she thinks about the issue “every day”. Bedingfield acknowledged the industry can be “harmful to the creative child within”.
Labrinth rose to fame through collaborations with Tinie Tempah, including hits “Pass Out” and “Earthquake”. He has released four albums, most recently Cosmic Opera: Act I in January. He was originally set to co-score the third season of Euphoria with Hans Zimmer, but his future involvement is now uncertain following his outburst. The third season is scheduled to premiere on HBO on 12 April.
