#FreeKesha

> A woman has been bound to her alleged abuser by
contract, and the rest of the music world isn’t taking it

lying down

Rebecca Peterson
Staff Writer

 

O n February 24, Adele took
the stage at the annual Brit

Awards to accept her award for
best female solo artist. After
thanking her fans and the other
nominees, she made a statement
that’s been making headlines
worldwide:

“Td like to take a quick second
just to thank my management and
my record label for embracing the
fact that ’'m a woman and being
encouraged by it. I'd also like
to take this moment to publicly
support Kesha.”

Here’s the rundown: Kesha
has been trying to have her
contract that ties her to Dr. Luke
annulled after years of alleged
emotional and sexual abuse
starting when she was just 18 years
old. Sony has fought against this,
and won, meaning that Kesha is
contractually obligated to produce

six more albums with a man who
allegedly drugged and raped her.
If she were to produce music
outside of this contract, she runs
the risk of being sued by Sony and
Dr. Luke for breach of contract,
the financial burden of which
could not only end her career but
also bankrupt her.

In past cases of women in
entertainment industries being
abused by men they work for,
the precedence set has not been
good. When Kristen Stewart had a
relationship with her director, who
was married, she paid the price
of having to apologize publicly,
losing her role in future movies
as well. The age difference was
not taken into account, the fact
that this man was in a position of
power over her was not taken into
account, and the indisputable fact
that he was married and she was
not was not taken into account.

Often, women in these
positions have been depicted as

Devaluing loyalty

> Starbucks’ new loyalty rewards program

Brittney MacDonald
Life and Style Editor

 

s many of you caffeine

ddicts may have noticed,
there have been big changes
made to Starbucks’ loyalty
program. The ease of the app
and its integration with the
payment card has made the
program itself an unwavering
success for the company. Even |
will admit it is probably the most
used out of my iPhone passport
novelties. However, Starbucks’
recent changes to the program
have caused outrage all over the
Internet for a few simple reasons.
One, it’s a change and the
Internet hates that; two, instead
of rewarding regular customers,
like it used to, it now rewards
customers who spend more
money. Now, this may sound
similar, but it is actually quite

different.

Doing the math, on the old
system, a star would be awarded
every time you would visit a
Starbucks. There were three levels
to ascend, Welcome, Green,
and Gold—there were rewards
present in each stage, but the
goal was to get to Gold level so
that you would get a free item
every thirteenth visit. Think of
it like a stamp card—buy twelve
and get the thirteenth one free!
This changed significantly with
Starbucks’ new system, which
instead awards its stars based off
of how much money you spend
as opposed to how often you go to
Starbucks. With the new system,
2 stars are awarded for every $1
spent. The ascension ladder will
now start at Green, removing
the Welcome level entirely—but
now it takes 300 stars to reach
the coveted Gold level. Starbucks’

Have an idea for a story?
Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

having “fallen from grace,” the
men who’ve taken advantage or
outright assaulted them never
having to face real consequences
for their actions. Sean Penn tied
Madonna to a chair and nearly
beat her to death, and he still has
a career. Chris Brown put Rihanna
in the hospital, and he still has a
career, Dr. Luke, who’s had more
than one singer who’s worked with
him speak out against him (Kelly
Clarkson being one of them), is
being protected by Sony for the
simple assumption that he will
make Sony more money than
Kesha in the long run.

The reason why many of
these other cases of abuse have
gone so badly is because they’re
often underreported, or reported
in such a way that the victim is
blamed for the actions of their
abuser. This is unfortunately
common in a lot of rhetoric
surrounding sexual assault.

It would have been easy for

claims that this is because stars
will be awarded more frequently
based off of the dollar system,

as opposed to the older system.
But, if we put on our thinking
caps for a minute and actually do
the math, this now means that
someone will have to spend $150
at Starbucks before they reach the
pinnacle of the loyalty program
pyramid. If you're comparing
those two numbers, and $150
seems reasonable compared to 30
visits to a store, regardless of what
you purchase, you're nuts.

To add insult to injury, they
also changed the frequency of
when you'll get a free item once
you do get to Gold level. A free
item will now be available for
every 125 stars. Doing our math
again, this means a customer
will have to spend $62.50 to get
something for free. If we compare
it to the old system, that would be

And more!

   

Kesha’s case to slip under the rug.
Because of the legal proceedings,
she’s been unable to produce new
music for years. The media often
painted her as a vapid party girl,
despite her genius-level IQ and
social activism. Kesha could have
been the easy victim of a broken
system that’s failed so many
people before her.

But this is not the case.

The world is speaking out in
defence of Kesha, loudly, publicly,
and in no uncertain terms. Taylor
Swift has donated $250,000 to
help pay for Kesha’s legal fees,
and recently Lady Gaga posted a
picture of herself holding Kesha’s
hand. Her fans have not forgotten
her during her musical hiatus,
promising a warm welcome when
she’s able to return.

From the disheartening
announcement that Kesha would
not be released from her contract,
a powerful message has arisen: the
public has taken the side of the

12 drinks of $5.30 each. Spending
that much is only reasonable if all
you drink is frappuccinos, which |
don’t advise.

For us regular folk, who
mostly just want a simple cup of
coffee and not all that crazy stuff
that’s essentially a milkshake on
sugary sweet steroids, the changes
made to the loyalty program

(¥ Beauty on a Budget
(¥ Sam Pepper removes himself from social media
(¥ The absolute basics of wine

Image via www. passionweiss.com

victim, not the abuser. As much

as Sony and Dr. Luke might have
threatened to let Kesha’s career
fall into obscurity, they cannot
control what has become the
ruling narrative of this case. Abuse
victims, who have often been
silenced in the past, can look on
this with hope that the world is
starting to change for the better.

As Kesha herself said in a
recent statement:

“If you have been abused,
please don't be afraid to speak out.
There are places that will make
you feel safe. There are people
who will help you. I for one will
stand beside you and behind you.
I know now how this all feels
and will forever fight for you the
way perfect strangers have been
fighting for me.”

It doesn’t undo the harm,
physical and psychological, that
was done. But I’m certain that on
the path to recovery and renewal,
it’s adamn good start.

 

speak a pretty clear message
of how unwanted we are. That
stings, Starbucks.

Unfortunately, as consumers
we have little power over what a
company does or doesn’t do with
its loyalty programs. The best we
can do is throw up our middle
finger and make friends with
Tim Hortons.