#artist-protection

#artist-protection

When, in February, Stephen Friedman Gallery announced it was entering administration, it was Groundhog Day all over again in the London art world, as just the latest in a series of gallery insolvencies over the past decade, including Blain Southern in 2019, Simon Lee Gallery in 2023 and Arusha Gallery in 2025. I have written previously here about how poorly protected artists are in the UK when their galleries go bust, with the artists forced to join the hopeless queue along with (and often behind) creditors such as banks and the tax authorities when there is little or nothing left to go around.

Since its founding in 2008, Bandcamp has become an invaluable resource for musicians, from bedroom producers to pop stars, as a host for the streaming and buying of their work. With artists and labels selling a wide range of physical products in addition to every major digital format, Bandcamp is the closest thing to a globe-spanning independent record store. In 2022, founder Ethan Diamond sold Bandcamp to Epic Games, who

We cannot support a provision that takes away states' powers to protect our citizens. Let states function as the laboratories of democracy they were intended to be and allow state leaders to protect our people.