{"id":860787,"date":"2026-09-26T00:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/860787\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T00:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T00:48:10","slug":"common-honored-with-sag-aftra-soundexchange-artist-impact-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/860787\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Honored With SAG-AFTRA & SoundExchange Artist Impact Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tArtist and social activist Common<\/a> was presented with SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange\u2019s inaugural Artist Impact Award at The Luckman Club\/Soho West Hollywood on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 24). As described by the two organizations, the award \u201chonors an artist whose work crosses creative boundaries. It recognizes contributions across music, film, television and media that have shaped culture, expanded artistic possibility and inspired new forms of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of the award presentation, Common, SAG-AFTRA national executive director & chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and SoundExchange president\/CEO Michael Huppe spoke exclusively with Billboard about the genesis of the award and what it represents moving forward.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cWhen it comes to social activist work and impact, I don\u2019t always want to be awarded for that,\u201d said Common. \u201cThat\u2019s not why I do it. I\u2019m doing this because I want to elevate people; to be there as a light for other individuals and help them reach their highest levels. I feel grateful that we get to actually put a light on the fact that what SAG-AFTRA does is great for artists and what SoundExchange does is great for artists. When I got to do the movie Selma, it made me feel like I could do more. This [award] makes me feel like I\u2019ve got to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe genesis of the Artist Impact Award stems from the more than two-decade relationship between SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange. As part of its charter, SoundExchange distributes 5% of its annual collections (roughly $50 million) to SAG-AFTRA to ensure that non-featured performers, including background singers and session musicians, receive the royalties they have earned when their work is used on digital platforms.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe share the mission in making sure that all creators get paid appropriately, respected appropriately in the economy that we\u2019re in today,\u201d emphasized SoundExchange\u2019s Huppe. \u201cWe started talking about how so many actors and artists are no longer just one or the other. Common is a great example. He\u2019s a musician, storyteller, actor, author, producer, entrepreneur and advocate. We agreed that it\u2019s important to celebrate the people who cross those divides and refuse to just stay in one lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdded Crabtree-Ireland, \u201cThis [partnership] exemplifies what we\u2019re trying to do here today: take an artist who has crossed over these different boundaries and, more importantly, who has delivered such a true vision in his music and activism. I\u2019m so glad that we came together to start this award process because I believe that when we acknowledge artists for that, it helps encourage other artists to do it. And when other artists do it, it helps encourage our society to do it more. And we really need that now as much as we\u2019ve ever needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAndra Day<\/a>, Rebecca Ferguson, Janelle Mon\u00e1e<\/a> and Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson<\/a> served as the host committee for the intimate luncheon\/presentation. Among the guests spotted celebrating Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winner Common were Universal Music Group general counsel and executive vp of business & legal affairs Jeffrey Harleston, veteran tour manager Tina Farris, Grammy-winning producer-songwriter No I.D.<\/a>, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb<\/a>, activist Shari Belafonte, DJ-producer D-Nice<\/a> and actor Anthony Anderson.<\/p>\n

\n\tCommon also marked the launch yesterday (Sept. 25) of Jeffery Park,<\/a> his new limited-edition wine brand created in partnership with Argentine winemaker Karim Mussi and Gopuff. The brand \u2014 named after a neighborhood park near Common\u2019s childhood home on Chicago\u2019s South Side \u2014 debuts with a 2024 pinot noir, which was served at the SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange award luncheon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe premise of Jefferey Park,\u201d Common told Billboard, \u201cis about togetherness, joy and sharing good times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist and social activist Common was presented with SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange\u2019s inaugural Artist Impact Award at The Luckman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[10546,88,3867,216,498],"class_list":["post-860787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-awards","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-hiphop","tag-music","tag-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}