On 21 November, British independent singer-songwriter Kate Nash kicked off her UK/EU tour with a new way of financially supporting her tour: purchasing an OnlyFans subscription. Under the slogan "Butts 4 Tour Buses," Nash began posting tasteful photos of her butt to the platform as a way to cover the expenses of her tour across 13 cities throughout the UK and Europe.
"I'm losing money from those tours," she told BBC News in an interview on 22 November. "The only way I could find to make a profit on the tour - you're either going, 'Hopefully I sell enough T-shirts to cover the debt, or you cut people's wages, or you fire band and crew, or you travel dangerously." Since touring has become a net loss, her OnlyFans will help her support her band without having to sacrifice their safety, comfort, or artistic independence, according to BBC. "I'm going to probably make more money doing that than the music over the next three months," she said.
Nash later posted a detailed explanation behind "Butts 4 Tour Buses" to her Instagram on 24 November. "Dont' be 'sad' that I started an OnlyFans to fund my tours," she wrote. "It's very empowering and selling pics of my arse is fun & funny, sex is fun & funny." The British singer went on to discuss the inequality in the sex work industry, and how critics create a culture of shame around women's sexuality and control over their bodies. Discussing the use of OnlyFans to promote her music career, the artist added, "Would you be interviewing me...if I had simply posted, 'going on tour, the business is shit, help me protect my employees & integrity of me show'...My arse is shining a light on the problem."
Kate Nash's OnlyFans project, alongside the beginning of her UK/Europe tour, comes at a poignant time in the UK cultural economy. While the UK government is making efforts to protect smaller, grassroots-level venues from collapse—they recently introduced a plan to implement a voluntary ticket levy on large stadiums and arenas to help fund smaller concerts—some artists, especially in the independent sector, still had to cancel tours this year due to exorbitant costs. Furthermore, after the fall relief budget was announced on October 30, the UK's dedicated budget to providerelief for grassroots music venues will go down from 75 % to 40% beginning April 2025, according to NME. Music Venue Trust, a UK-registered charity dedicated to supporting the indie cultural scene, responsed in a published statement on Facebook, "Over 350 grassroots music venues are now placed at immediate risk of closure, representing the potential loss of more than 12,000 jobs, over £250 million in economic activity and the loss of over 75,000 live music events."
"I’ve been called apocalyptic & a “prostitute” which fyi is an outdated term, it’s sex worker," said Kate Nash on Instagram yesterday. "A country without grassroots culture, no venues, no working class people in music & only massive arena shows….sounds pretty apocalyptic to me."
The reality is that OnlyFans does provide lucrative results for artists. Last month, British pop star Lily Allen stated that she started an account to post and sell photos of her feet, claiming that she made more money from 1,000 subscribers than "nearly 8 million listeners on Spotify." At the time of her statement, a subscription for the musician's page costed $10/month, allegedly generating about $10,000/month for Allen, according to Billboard.
imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet. don’t hate the player, hate the game. https://t.co/Fx7JAhPhV5
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) October 25, 2024
Nash similarly critiqued the disparity between Spotify's streaming revenue service and a direct payment subscription service like OnlyFans. "Whilst touring is the best job EVER it is currently technically what you might call a passion project for a lot of artists in 2024," she posted to her Instagram on November 21, the first day of her UK/Europe tour. "Please buy my merch or my arse on my new ONLYFANS account katenyash87 to support me paying great wages & putting on a high quality show as I will not sacrifice either of things. (No need to stream my music, I’m good for the 0.003 of a penny per stream thanks.)"
Kate Nash is currently on tour in the UK and Europe to promote the release of her latest album 9 Sad Symphonies, which came out 21 June, 2024. The upcoming dates can be seen below:
11/29 Brighton, UK - Chalk
12/05 Utrecht, NE - Tivolivredenburg (Pandora)
12/06 Osnabrück, NO - Die Botschaft
12/07 Berlin, DE - Astra Kulturhaus
12/09 Cologne, DE - Kantine
12/10 Paris, FR - L'Alhambra
12/17 Belfast, UK - The Limelight
12/18 Dublin, IE - Academy
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