Backline connects music professionals and their families to tailored mental-health care—therapy, financial aid, substance-use treatment, and wellness resources.
Backline
For millions of people, music is a powerful source of mental wellness – which is why the innovative non-profit Backline is fighting for the people who power live music, who deserve care that works the way they do.
With World Mental Health Day(October 10) fresh in mind, the reminder is timely: support for the people behind the music is still too fragmented, too hard to reach—especially for freelancers and crews outside corporate benefits.
Backline is changing that. Founded in 2019 by Hilary Gleason, Backline connects music professionals and their families to tailored mental-health care—therapy, financial aid, substance-use treatment, and wellness resources—through a model built inside the industry, for the industry.
As Gleason explains, “Backline is a mental health and wellness resource for music industry professionals and their families. We help people find therapy, financial aid, substance use treatment, and a variety of wellness modalities.”
The Spark: A Community Responds To Loss
Backline emerged after losses in Gleason’s jam and Americana community, prompting a hard question: how were people still slipping through the cracks in a tight-knit scene? Early conference calls with artists, agents, managers, crew, and service organizations revealed the gap: resources existed, but there was no clear way to figure out what’s right for me. That insight led to a one-on-one case-management program so people could work directly with mental-health professionals who understand the industry and, in Gleason’s words, “take the guesswork out of finding care.”
Hilary Gleason, Founder
Backline
The Model: Navigation Built For Creators
Each plan is individualized—grounded in eligibility, insurance, and the specific type of care someone needs (including trauma-informed specialties). The hub routes people to long-standing partners and funds across the ecosystem, focusing on what the person is eligible for and has asked for, rather than blanket referrals.
Who It Serves: The Whole Touring Ecosystem
The vision extends beyond artists and label employees to freelancers and venue teams—photographers, venue staff, tour-bus drivers—because a healthy tour depends on every role. Visibility now shows up where it matters most; as Gleason notes, “In every green room in the U.S. that is a Live Nation or AEG room, you will see a sign about Backline,” with information placed for both touring crews and venue employees.
Funding The Mission: Grassroots To Global
Backline’s financial base is deliberately diversified—grassroots donors, foundations, and industry partners—so support doesn’t rise and fall with one stream. Corporate support is growing as new partners step up.
This summer, Spotify expanded Backline’s reach through its Heart & Soul program and platform integrations. As Spotify’s Lauren Siegal Wurgaft puts it, “Heart & Soul is Spotify’s commitment to the people behind the music. Artists and songwriters work under intense pressure, and their mental health can’t be an afterthought. This festival season, we’re partnering with Backline to bring mental-health support directly backstage at festivals across the country, part of our ongoing work to make care easier to reach exactly when and where creators need it. Together, we’re building a culture of connection and resilience that sustains a thriving music community.”
Gleason adds that Spotify’s support helped Backline “go global” by placing resources inside Spotify for Artists and scaling outreach to a worldwide community.
Backline Wellness Event at ACL
Backline
Culture Shift: Tours That Budget For Therapy
A new generation is normalizing mental-health infrastructure on the road and investing directly in their teams. Artists are bringing Backline on tour for workshops, training, and therapy funds, moving from ad-hoc help to proactive, line-item care. “Gone are the days where labels and management companies are telling artists here’s the box that we’re putting you into… artists are more and more empowered to do things differently, ask for protection, bring in these wellness days,” says Gleason.
Why It Works: Providers Who Know The Road
Relevance is the differentiator. “Everything we do at Backline is, we say, built by the music industry for the music industry.” A clinical referral network of more than 1,500 therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists—most with direct music-industry experience—means people can “get right to the work” without explaining studio hours, relentless travel, or the “perils of touring.”
Backline Harmony in practice
MollyMcCormick
Meeting The Surge: From Care Plans To Direct Aid
Demand is surging; Backline is on track to double impact year-over-year and is now providing direct financial assistance through Music’s Mental Health Fund. To meet the way this industry actually operates, Gleason’s vision is to move toward real-time support and to see more tours and companies budget for care upfront, with Backline as the trusted handoff: “We like to think that we’re making things easier for the industry… you can easily say, let’s get on a call with Backline.”
The Invitation: Call-In, Not Call-Out
Backline’s posture is collaborative—brands, labels, managers, agencies, venues, and gear makers are all invited to uplift and extend the platform already working. Or as Gleason frames it, “We’re looking to call these people in, not call them out.” For leaders across the ecosystem, the opportunity is clear: normalize mental-health line items, amplify resources where creators already are, and help scale a model designed to keep the music—and the people who make it—healthy.
