Matty Healy Calls Out Paid Meet & Greets for Monetizing Human Connection

The 1975’s Matty Healy is an honest artist who has never shied away from speaking up for what he believes in. His latest topic of discussion is the idea of charging for meet & greets, an occurrence that’s becoming increasingly popular. And increasingly expensive.

Related: Matty Healy Discusses the Idea of Masculinity and Using Art to Overcome Anxiety

In a Twitter rant, the frontman shared a controversial opinion on paying to meet your favorite artists. “Who came up with payed meet and greets? Did they think ‘Surely there must be something else we can monetise........OH! Human connection!! They'll eat that up!’” he wrote while urging artists to focus on aspects other than the money.

Who came up with payed meet and greets? Did they think "Surely there must be something else we can monetise........OH! Human connection!! They'll eat that up!"

MEET YOUR FANS OR DON'T

DON'T ONLY MEET THEM IF YOU'RE GETTING PAYED HONESTLY WHAT ARE YOU DOING

— matty (@Truman_Black) March 26, 2019

Fans quickly came to the defense of both sides of the argument. Many noted that it can help supplement up-and-coming artists' incomes and offset huge touring costs. Matty responded by pointing out the paradox, arguing that you can’t be both successful enough to have fans pay to meet you, but not enough to cover your own expenses.

"Rich kids, you line up on the left. Poor kids, just fuck off.”

You can't be big enough for people to want to pay to meet you whilst not being big enough to pay for touring. Its a paradoxical excuse for making MUSIC EXLCUISVE.
"Rich kids, you line up on the left. Poor kids, just fuck off' https://t.co/FcWc9VE5Vh

— matty (@Truman_Black) March 27, 2019

He then turned his anger towards the labels, who are also taking big chunks of the meet and greet costs. “They should make all fans pay in cash - directly to the artist. They should literally hand over the $200.” Cut out the middle man, smart move. 

I think the problem is that a lot of artists don't understand how brutal it is, because MAJOR LABELS have normalised it. So MAJOR LABELS should change it. They should make all fans pay in cash - directly to the artist. They should literally hand over the $200. Would soon stop x https://t.co/bHhnUo5SvJ

— matty (@Truman_Black) March 27, 2019

Along with defending his point that paying to meet someone is a bad concept, he also teased that The 1975 is planning on setting up their own festival in the UK. Spanning across three days, his high ambitions include enlisting the help of everyone else on their label to play.

“#notlying” he concluded in a follow-up Tweet. Road trip anyone?

If The 1975 & Co. put on their own festival next year, over 3 nights in the UK, who’s coming?

— matty (@Truman_Black) March 27, 2019

Everyone from Dirty Hit will play (I hope, I’ve not spoken to everyone but i’m sure they will lol)

Who else?

— matty (@Truman_Black) March 28, 2019