Executive Director
Sweet Relief Musicians Fund
Years with Company: 15
Address: 2650 E. Imperial Hwy, Ste. 208, Brea, CA 92821-6135
Phone: 714-626-0447
Fax: 714-626-0473
Web: sweetrelief.org
Email: info@sweetrelief.org
Clients: Musicians, producers, engineers, and anyone else who earns at least 50 percent of their income from the music industry.
BACKGROUND
When hard times fall on those in the music industry, Sweet Relief is there to help, whether that means paying for medical bills or basic living expenses. After being involved with the nonprofit for years, Aric Steinberg was named Executive Director in 2024.
The Giving Spirit
In 2010, two guys took over at the request of our founder, Victoria Williams—Bill Bennett and Rob Max. Rob Max was a friend of mine. I started hanging around the office and fell in love with the mission, so I started volunteering. I wrote some grant proposals and copy for the website, helping out any way I could. I learned about the plight of musicians in our country. I was moved, created a job for myself here, and I’ve never looked back.
Same Job, Different Title
Rob was the former Executive Director. He passed away in 2017. We never replaced Rob, and I sort of grew into the role. I was pretty much doing all the duties of an executive director. We formalized the title change, but I’m doing the same thing I’ve been doing for years.
Distribution Specifics
We pay third parties directly. Once someone is approved for a grant, we ask, “Where do you owe money?” It covers a lot of ground, but the key criteria is being in the music industry and having a medical issue. The exception is during times of natural disaster. For example, in Asheville, [North Carolina,] we were helping a lot of folks who had floods. And we had the fires here in L.A. In those cases, we don’t require the medical [prerequisite] and will help immediately.
But in the normal course of operations, we pay third parties directly, which the donors like. They know the money they donate will not be squandered. It works out for those who are receiving the funds, too, because oftentimes they’re sick, sometimes disabled, and unable to handle their finances while they get better, so we do that for them.
Funds For Every Purpose
We have Music’s Mental Health Fund. We have The Musicians Cancer Fund. We have the elder musicians fund [Rob Max Memorial Fund for Elder Musicians]. And we have regional funds. These are for donors to have a say in how their donations are spent. If somebody wants to help people with mental health care, they would donate to our mental health fund. If somebody lives in New York City and wants to help local artists, they can donate to our fund that covers New York City. We even have it separated by genre.
Another thing we do is have designated artist funds. That’s when somebody has a need greater than a one-time grant will provide for. It’s a crowdfunding type of campaign where we tap into their community and administer the funds that are raised. Some have gone on for years and that feels really good, to provide a more complete solution for an artist.
Joining Forces With Backline
When they first started, we were looking for a way to help in the mental health space. We wanted to address it while also staying in our lane. We’re not social workers and didn’t want to add staff just to handle this one area, so we started looking for partnerships. Backline was a newer organization but we loved their mission, which is to provide case management and find therapists for people in the music business. So we partnered with them and started Music’s Mental Health Fund.
Hearing Health
Sweetwater is the largest online retailer of musical instruments. We’d been looking to do something together for a long time. The Hearing Health Fund is a cooperative effort between our orgs. We have made a big donation to cover the cost of screenings by professional audiologists. And [patients] get a pair of ear buds with their screening. They also get coaching as to what they can do to mitigate existing or prevent further damage. And then they’re eligible, depending on the screening results, for further assistance through Sweet Relief.
Applications Made Easy
We ask that people show evidence of financial need. We’re not trying to put up roadblocks and make people jump through hoops, so we’ve scaled it back as far as we can. We’ll even accept applications from other orgs. Keeping in mind that sometimes people are pretty sick when they apply and not at their best, it’s not easy for them to struggle with a big, complicated application. So we try to keep it simple.
We also have a universal application that we started with Music Health Alliance, another terrific organization we partner with quite a bit. There are four or five of us in this nonprofit space that share this universal application. Plus, there’s a phone number [applicants] can call. We’ll mail out applications. We’re happy to help.
Successful Artists Can Be Broke
I had to be educated on that. That is the biggest pushback we get. “These artists should have saved their money.” Or, “They probably blew it all on drugs and sex.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Specifically using David [Johansen] as an example, once you get sick with something like [cancer], that’s it. You can say goodbye to your savings. You need home health care. You have all kinds of expenses that aren’t covered by insurance. So he quickly racked up a lot of debt. And this is just one high-profile case. This is happening in every city across the country. You’re only covered up to this much, or you’re not covered at all for something. And to weave your way through the labyrinth of insurance claims is complicated. So it is something we have to educate about. But judging by the outpouring of support for David, I think people get it.
Putting the Fun in Fundraising
The majority of our fundraising comes from the music industry. We have a team that reaches out to artists. We have an annual benefit show at The Masonic in San Francisco. We did one in January where we honored Joan Baez. We had an incredible lineup, including Bonnie Raitt, Roseanne Cash, and Emmylou Harris. Tom Morello came out. It was an incredible show.
Sweet Relief Benefit Albums
The one we did last year was a tribute to Lowell George. This year’s is called Sweet Relief We Can Help. Sixpence None The Richer and Lucinda [Williams] are on there, Michael Penn and Aimee Mann… It’s an amazing album, and Flatiron Recordings has been a great partner for us. They’re produced by one of our board members, Sheldon Gomberg. He’s a terrifically generous person, and we’re lucky to have him.
Music (and Its Creators) Are Worth Something
Imagine your life without music. People take it for granted. You can flip on the radio or turn on Spotify and get all this music at your fingertips. But someone’s out there making that music, and we need to take care of these people.
