New York (CNN) — Save the Music, the nonprofit foundation that grew in popularity on cable TV in the late 1990s through the 2000s, is going indie.
Paramount Global is ending its financial support for the nearly 30-year-old program that promotes music education in public schools, the foundation announced Wednesday. As a result, Save the Music is starting a $10 million endowment fund to sustain its mission as a fully independent nonprofit.
The change marks the end of an era for the organization, which was created in 1997 by a former VH1 executive and became a mainstay on the cable network’s programming slate. It spanned highly rated benefit concerts like “VH1 Divas Live” to TV ads fronted by A-list singers, including Celine Dion and Mariah Carey.
Paramount’s decision to nix funding comes during a financially perilous time for the storied media conglomerate. Last year, the company laid off 15% of its US staff and wrote down $6 billion in value of its cable television networks as part of its efforts to eliminate $500 million in annual costs. It’s also in the midst of an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Given all of that, Paramount’s decision to end its relationship with the foundation was for “obvious reasons,” Save the Music’s Executive Director Harry Donahue told CNN. The media company has made a final six-figure donation to its endowment, he said.
“Save the Music was founded nearly 30 years ago and since then, it has helped millions of students at more than 2,800 schools excel both academically and creatively through the enriching power of music,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re honored to have been a part of this critical mission from the beginning, and we’re excited to see Save the Music continue to thrive in this next chapter.”
Donahue said the change has “been in the cards” since 2019 when Save the Music dropped VH1 from its name and reduced its reliance on a single source for money.
Currently, 95% of its budget comes from non-Paramount sources by garnering donations from major companies, including Amazon, TikTok and Meta; major record labels; and philanthropists such as MacKenzie Scott, who gave the foundation $2 million. Nearly $4 million of the $10 million endowment is currently funded.
Also since 2019, it began to tweak its approach to funding and promoting music education, he said. Under Paramount (formerly Viacom), Save the Music harnessed the popularity and viewership that VH1 used to have, noting that the “VH1 Divas Live” concert series was created to fund the program.
The foundation “would travel around the country with artists and celebrities dropping off instruments at schools and they would have, like what I would call the ‘classic Oprah moment,’ where you have a school assembly and there’s a star there,” Donahue said. “They pull a big sheet off a big pile of instruments on the stage and everybody goes crazy. We really don’t do that anymore.”
Rather than focus on made-for-TV moments, Save the Music now embeds in communities and schools — some of which have been the victim of cutbacks within art and music programs — and creates investment plans to help fund instruments donations or music classes.
Of course, high-profile musicians will remain part of its mission with “artist ambassadors” making appearances at schools, including Ed Sheeran and Charlie Puth in recent years.
“The objective and the mission has always been the same, which is we think every student and every school should be making music as part of their education,” Donahue said. “The way we do it now is very, very different.”
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