BAMBII hits out at Coachella for “paying artists in exposure”

BAMBII has criticised Coachella for paying artists “in exposure” following an issue with the soundsystem during her set at week 1 of the festival this weekend.

The Canadian DJ and producer performed on the Do LaB stage on Friday afternoon (April 11), alongside other acts such as Jyoty, Layla Benitez, ATRIP and DJ Pee Wee (AKA Anderson .Paak).

Following her set, BAMBII shared a series of Instagram stories alluding to a malfunction in the stage’s soundsystem that had led to her being “misrepresented and embarrassed in front of thousands,” despite not being paid by the festival to play at the festival.

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“I know the move would be to just post the picture in front of the giant crowd and feed the illusion of success but in reality I wasn’t being paid, flew myself out, and spent thousands of my own money to invest in an opportunity,” she said.

“Like so many other artists on that bill it took a lot of hard work to even get to the position to be booked, music is my entire life and I believe at a bare minimum the least a festival as reputable as COACHELLA could provide artists they aren’t paying….is a WORKING SOUND SYSTEM.”

An earlier post had indicated that BAMBII had been warned by an artist playing before her that the system “had been chipping out” constantly during the day’s sets and the equipment she was using to DJ was also “completely malfunctioning.”

“Though some effort was made after my team and I pushed the issue I believe there was a comfort with letting the artists play below industry standard because we were primarily all seen as up-and-coming female artists,” she continued.

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In an earlier post, BAMBII criticised the “normalisation” of expecting artists to pay for free at Coachella and other institutions in the music industry, adding her belief that it’s an “ultimatum that disproportionately gets offered more to POC or female artists.”

“I know from the outside playing Coachella seems like a privilege however when you aren’t even being paid (like at all lol) and a basic standard isn’t met it really just becomes extractive,” she continues.

“I struggle sometimes with saying something in fear of appearing angry or jaded but responding to this moment with no critique and a ‘TY so much Coachella’ post just isn’t honest,” she adds. “In a small way, it kinda normalises these unfair exchanges and how these spaces exploit our aspirations of being on their platforms.”

Megan Townsend Is Mixmag’s Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter