Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, Live Nation, AEG International and the charity foundation set up by Juice WRLD’s mother are backing a new fund designed to bring mental health support to artists and crew working on smaller tours.
The Pay It Forward Fund, created by the Music Industry Therapy Collective (MITC), aims to make specialist care accessible to touring professionals who often lack the resources of major productions. The scheme offers confidential conversations with qualified practitioners who understand the realities of music and touring, available online around the clock in several languages.
MITC’s press materials note that touring professionals face “an elevated risk of stress, anxiety and burnout, as well as clinical depression and suicidality.” While larger tours increasingly provide welfare or pastoral support as part of production, the statement explains that smaller tours face compounded pressures from tighter budgets, leaner teams and more challenging work and travel conditions. These teams rarely have the budget to offer people the same opportunities to talk, reflect and reset.
The fund covers Tour Check-Ins, which any member of a touring team can use to decompress after a difficult day, think through a decision, discuss work or relationships, handle team tension, reflect on coping habits or plan next steps. It also includes a 90-minute occupational health consultation with MITC’s Touring Welfare Officer Sascha Heeney, who supported Dua Lipa’s “Radical Optimism” tour team, plus healthy touring workshops, resources for performance and communication, and access to MITC’s audiobook “Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual.”
Selway said in a statement that the reality of touring can sometimes feel at odds with the dream of it. He described the environment as potentially full of excitement and camaraderie but also unstable and overwhelming, capable of heightening emotional and geographical displacement and leading to exhaustion, isolation and self-destructive behaviors. During Radiohead’s European tour last autumn, the band had a support network in place offering confidential access to MITC therapists.
“Even though we’re a cohesive, well-resourced and very experienced touring party, we knew that you can still never completely guard against the trip hazards of touring,” Selway said. He added that knowing the support was there was hugely reassuring, and that pressures are often felt more keenly by acts with fewer resources. He said he was delighted to invest in Pay It Forward to ensure the support can be offered more widely.
Tamsin Embleton, founder of MITC, said the fund is about making specialist support accessible to tours working within tight budgets. She said it is also about moving beyond the idea that support should only be sought when crisis hits. “We want to help forward-thinking teams develop the skills to manage pressure, recognise when something is beginning to take a toll, and intervene effectively before things start to snowball,” she said.
Contributors include Selway, Live Nation, AEG International and Live Free 999, the charity founded by Carmela Wallace, mother of the late rapper Juice WRLD, who died in 2019 after an overdose. Eligible artists, crew and tour teams can apply for the scheme through MITC.
The launch follows MITC’s previous rollout of a 24-hour mental health support service for music touring professionals, including artists, production staff, promoters, venues and agents. Research from mental health charity Mind has shown that people working in the music industry are more prone to mental health problems than the general population, with musicians up to three times more likely to suffer from depression. Financial pressures, isolation, lifestyle, hectic schedules and addiction are often cited as contributing factors.