Radiohead Drummer, Live Nation Back New Fund for Touring Musicians' Mental Health
The Music Industry Therapy Collective (MITC) has launched the Pay It Forward Fund, a new initiative aimed at giving artists and crew on small and mid-size tours access to the kind of professional mental health support that's typically been reserved for bigger productions. As reported by NME, funders include Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, Live Nation, AEG International, and Live Free 999, a foundation established by Carmela Wallace, mother of the late rapper Juice WRLD (born Jarad Anthony Higgins). Eligible artists, crew members and touring teams can apply through MITC.
What the fund provides
MITC's release states that touring professionals face elevated risk of stress, anxiety and burnout, including clinical depression and suicide risk. While larger tours have increasingly built welfare and mental health support into production budgets, smaller tours are often squeezed by tighter budgets, leaner crews and harsher working and travel conditions, leaving little room for equivalent resources.
- Confidential conversations with qualified mental health professionals familiar with music and touring, available online 24/7 and in multiple languages
- Tour Check-Ins, open to any member of a touring team, for processing a difficult day, working through decisions, discussing work or relationship issues, addressing friction within a team, examining coping habits, or planning next steps
- A 90-minute occupational health consultation led by MITC touring welfare officer Sascha Heeney, who has supported Dua Lipa's Radical Optimism touring team
- Healthy touring workshops and resources supporting performance, communication and collaboration
- Access to MITC's audiobook Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual
Selway: Radiohead's European tour already has counseling in place
Selway said the reality of touring sometimes differs from how it's imagined from the outside — while it can be full of excitement, wonder and camaraderie, it can also be an unstable and overwhelming way to live and work, deepening emotional and geographic isolation and leading to burnout, isolation and self-destructive behavior.
He noted that Radiohead's European tour last autumn had already put a support network in place, giving the team confidential access to MITC therapists. Even a touring team with strong chemistry, ample resources and years of experience can't fully avoid the risks that come with life on the road; knowing support is there was, in his words, "hugely reassuring." He added that performers and teams with fewer resources feel the strain more acutely, which is why he chose to back Pay It Forward — to extend that kind of support to more people.
MITC founder Tamsin Embleton said the fund's core aim is to make professional support accessible to tours with tight budgets, moving beyond a framework where help is only sought once a crisis hits, and instead helping teams build the capacity to manage stress and identify and address problems before they escalate.
Previous initiatives and industry context
MITC has previously launched a 24-hour mental health support service for music touring professionals, covering artists, production staff, promoters, venues and agents. Research from mental health charity Mind shows that people working in the music industry report mental health problems at higher rates than the general population.