LA wildfires

It was the morning of Jan. 8, and Los Angeles was burning. 

As wildfires decimated the city’s Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, many evacuees from those areas posted urgent updates on social media saying they and their families had just fled homes that, for many, no longer existed.  

Angelenos living outside areas where fires were actively burning watched with dread as dark smoke blotted out the sun in areas across town, wondering how they could help their friends and if they might be next. As many took action to help, one longtime music publicist started doing what she does best: organizing information.  

“I was literally in shock and horror,” says the publicist, who’s requested anonymity. “I saw a lot of names who I knew that had lost their homes, so I just opened a spreadsheet and labeled it ‘fire victims.’ I started putting the names down, and then I put a post online saying, ‘Let’s keep track of the music and musician community, especially for fundraising.’”  

A list that started with 10 names now — as of publication on Thursday (Jan. 16) — contains 365, nearly all of them listed with corresponding GoFundMe links. The list has helped raise a collective $13 million in donations in the eight days since its creation, the publicist says.  

The spreadsheet was originally an open-source document anyone could add to, but when the publicist woke up on the morning of Jan. 9 and opened it, she saw that “every single person’s name was missing and everything was sorted incorrectly, and that just wasn’t going to work.” There were also a few hours when every name on the list was accidentally deleted, after which the document was made read-only.  

At this point, the publicist thought about creating a submission page but then reconsidered, thinking people reaching out to add their names “needed more of a human interaction.” Instead, she directed people to reach out to her directly and was soon receiving new names — along with other data like the number of people and pets living in the house, their affiliation to the music business and their needs — via email, text and across social accounts.

“I started typing them in by hand and working on it pretty much all day over the weekend,” she says. (Editor‘s note: A submission page was ultimately added. If you or someone you know has been affected by the fires and would like a name added to the list, submit the info here.) 

Then Zac Matthews, chairman of the music department at Pasadena City College, reached out and offered to help. Matthews is not only helping manage the list but adding names from the broader musical community.  

“When I first saw the growing list, it became an invaluable source of information about friends and colleagues in need,” Matthews says. “I implemented a few improvements to make it quicker and easier to add people and have been working on keeping it up-to-date and gradually more functional. While it’s gratifying to feel like I’m contributing in some way during this time, it still feels small in the face of such an immense tragedy — but it’s something… I hope our efforts have played some part in inspiring this remarkable outpouring of generosity.” 

The list is now being run by a small team, with assistance from Los Angeles NPR affiliate KCRW, which is hosting additional tabs that include a benefit concert calendar and forms to contribute or find equipment donations and pro-bono studio time.

GoFundMe itself also reached out to assist with vetting the GoFundMes and making sure none of them were fraudulent. (As far as the publicist knows, none were, although one was removed at the request of the recipient as they felt their need wasn’t as great as others.) The company is also developing a column for the list that will automatically update how much money each individual GoFundMe has raised, along with the collective amount.  

“At GoFundMe, we continue to be inspired by our community’s kindness, generosity and empathy, especially in moments like this,” a representative for the company tells Billboard. “These grassroots organizers compiling lists for communities have helped create a ripple effect of good by further amplifying fundraisers to help provide even more support for people in need.” 

As the list has grown, it’s also expanded to include information regarding the possibility of FEMA and insurance companies monitoring the fundraisers and the potential of this affecting eventual payouts from these entities, with the list offering recommended wording to avoid this. It also contains links to similar spreadsheets for Black families, Latino families and Filipino families displaced by the fire, along with one listing domestic workers who’ve lost their employment.  

“It’s so hard to leave thousands of people off this [music business] list,” says the publicist. “But it lets everyone start with their community. The mutual aid is so strong in L.A.” 

The publicist has heard some criticism from people who’ve argued that the list contains names of “all the privileged people,” which she stresses is not true. “There are so many musicians of various stripes, colors and ages on this, from every genre,” she says. “Yes, there are some people of more privilege here, but by and large, a lot of these people are just families getting by. They’re music teachers, cellists, piano teachers, composers. It’s such a wide swath of the music business.” 

Matthew Willems, a producer and label owner who, along with his girlfriend, lost everything after their one-bedroom apartment burned down in the Altadena fire, and whose name is on the list, says that in terms of immediate financial aid, “The only thing that’s really working is my GoFundMe.” 

The publicist also notes that some of the particularly affluent people who’ve lost everything in the fires are not doing GoFundMes given that they’re able to deal with the situation with the financial resources they already have.  

But, she says, “I think we have to have a lot of empathy for even the richest people that lost everything they loved and worked for — family photos, mementos, jewelry that their grandmother passed down. So much is gone from people, both rich and poor, that we have to have empathy for everybody. But we have to have monetary empathy for the working class.” 

The willingness to help thus far is unabated. During the list’s eight days of existence, there’s always been between 20 and 150 people looking in the document at any given moment.  

“You can’t even use the [updating] tools,” the publicist says, “because there’s too much traffic.”