Whitey Lashes Out At TV Company Refusing To Pay For Music

British musician Nathan Joseph White, who performs under the name Whitey, has made public a scathing reply he recently sent to a popular British television production company after they asked to use his popular song Stay On The Outside on one of their programs, but refused to pay for the privilege.

“I am sick to death of your hollow schtick,” White says early on in the letter, which has gone viral overnight. “Your company set out the budget. So you have chosen to allocate no money for music.”

White goes on to compare what the company is doing to stealing food from someone's house and asking whether they would ask a Director with a resume of the same magnitude as White's to work for free.

“I've licensed music to some of the biggest shows, brands, games and TV production companies on Earth; from Breaking Bad to The Sopranos, from Coca-Cola to Visa, HBO to Rockstar Games.

“Ask yourself- would you approach a creative or a director with a resume like that- and in one flippant sentence ask them to work for nothing? Of course not. Because your industry has a precedent of paying these people, of valuing their work.”

He then goes on to say that everyone involved in a shoot will be paid, except those who provide music to the program.

“You will without question pay everyone connected to a shoot – from the caterer to the grip to the extra – even the cleaner who mopped your set and scrubbed the toilets after the shoot will get paid. The musician? Give him nothing.”

You can read the full letter here.

Whitey has a large online following – recently announcing he has had over 6.5 million plays of his music online – and his email has spread far and wide in a mere few hours. The song requested, Stay On The Outside, was most recently used in series five of the popular drama Breaking Bad.

Betty, the company that White lashed out at, specialise in reality TV style programs like Ultimate Shopper, Get Your House In Order and Promzilla; you can view their list of programs here.

Listen to the track they wanted to use here: