Kate Nash has defended her decision to start an account on OnlyFans to raise money for her UK and European tour.
The British pop singer rose to fame in the late-Noughties with her hit single “Foundations”, also achieving a No 1 album with her debut, Made of Bricks.
Over the weekend, Nash announced that she had launched a “Butts for Tour Buses” campaign, citing rising costs of travel, accommodation, food, promotion and crew.
“While 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 said.
Nash, 37, said she launched the account both to make a point that the music industry is “completely broken” and for financial reasons.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said that musicians are “going to have to find solutions to fund their art” and said she believed it was “quite empowering”.
“I'm also creating jobs with my bum now. For example, I couldn't bring a crew member that's on tour with me in the UK to Europe, but now I can, because of my OnlyFans website,” she said.
Nash said she had previously taken on other jobs in order to help fund her music career: “At one point I was selling Star Wars jewellery from a comic book shop on livestreams.“
The Harrow-born singer continued: ”I don't really have time in my schedule to get another type of job, and this was an idea that I just thought of, because I've made a record this year, I'm on three tours in a row, and that's a massive financial strain.
“I was just kind of feeling the pressure of that, and I thought this is something that I could do.”
Nash said she felt it would cause “a bit of a stir and a conversation”, compared to what she predicted would have been a muted reaction had she simply told her followers how the music industry was struggling.
”I think the reason people are talking about me going on tours is because I'm selling pictures of my ass now,” she said. “I've already been working my ass off for years, and now I'm just going to get paid really well for it, and I'm going to pay my employees really well for it too.“
She also defended her decision in a statement to Instagram, addressing critics who apparently told her it is a “sad” thing to do.
“Don’t be ‘sad’ that I started an OnlyFans to fund my tours,” she wrote on Instagram. “It’s very empowering and selling pics of my arse is fun and funny, sex is fun & funny.
“Women being in control of their bodies is vital and something we should all be standing by and fighting for.”
She questioned whether what she was doing on OnlyFans would count as sex work, “but I love supporting sex workers especially when they are in control and setting their own boundaries. I am a SUPERFAN of women in charge of their bodies and sex lives and feminist porn creators.”
“My arse is shining a light on the problem,” she concluded. “Honestly I’m such a legend for this.”
Earlier this year, Nash’s fellow pop star Lily Allen launched her own OnlyFans account, on which she has been sharing photos of her feet to subscribers.
The decision initially started as a joke on her hit podcast with her longtime friend, TV presenter Miquita Oliver. However, Allen recently revealed that she now makes more money from her feet pictures on OnlyFans than she does through streams of her music on Spotify.
“Imagine being [an] artist and having nearly eight million monthly listeners on Spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,” she posted on X/Twitter.
Industry figures have been warning of the looming threat to the UK’s live music industry due to the “financially unviable” situation it presents for many artists.
Last year, a survey of almost 6,000 performers found that around half of professional musicians earn less than £14,000 a year from their music.
The report revealed more than half (53 per cent) sustain their career by sourcing other forms of income outside of music – and 75 per cent of those who have other income in addition to music report only seeking this work for financial reasons.
Nash is on tour now, with shows scheduled at venues including London’s Koko on 28 November and Chalk in Brighton on 29 November.
