Press
ALL INQUIRIES
QUICK FACTS
- Entity: 501(c)(3) nonprofit · EIN 39-2262217
- Catalog: 800+ songs · 150+ original masters and music videos
- Current release: Thula Sizwe / I Shall Be Released
- In production: We the Common People
- In development: We Outside · People in Sync
- Related initiatives: Common Exchange · Common Hymnal · Common Thread
- Websites: commonpeople.cc · commonhymnal.com
ABOUT COMMON PEOPLE
Common People makes music in the deep end.
Common People is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit commons built to discover, develop, protect, organize, and make room for artists whose work carries genuine cultural, moral, and spiritual weight — especially work born in the margins, outside the systems that typically decide what gets heard. Its flagship band, also called Common People, carries that work into recordings, live performance, theater, film, civic spaces, museums, universities, festivals, and wider public life.
Over the past nine years, this work has quietly become larger than anyone could have planned. Across the Common People ecosystem, more than 800 songs have been written, and more than 150 original masters and music videos have been created. Those songs have found their way into stages, justice organizations, civic gatherings, universities, museums, and churches — from The King Center and The Carter Center to the de Young Museum, Riverside Church in Harlem, the University of Pennsylvania, Nashville’s Juneteenth celebration, the International Black Theatre Festival, and Festival of Nations.
At its center is the slow, careful work of making room for voices from the margins and helping songs, stories, artists, and cultural projects move through the world without losing their integrity.
The work takes shape through several related initiatives: Common People, the nonprofit steward; Common People, the band; Common Exchange, the label, production, and distribution arm; Common Hymnal, the original song library, publishing home, and theological anchor; Common Thread, the place-based storytelling imprint; We Outside, where the catalog becomes theater; and People in Sync, the screen-facing expression of the work.
Current projects include “Thula Sizwe / I Shall Be Released,” featuring Common People, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone; We the Common People, a full-length music project in production; We Outside, a BIPOC theatrical experience in development; and People in Sync, a sync-focused catalog for film, television, documentary, and visual media.
SOUND REFERENCES
Common People lives somewhere between protest song, global pop, hip hop, soul, gospel memory, cinematic texture, and theater — music with rhythm, weight, spirit, and a story to carry.
For reference, the sonic territory reaches toward Chance the Rapper, Tracy Chapman, Uncle Waffles, Bad Bunny, Stevie Wonder, A.R. Rahman, Burna Boy, and Nina Simone — not as imitation, but as a signal of range.
CURRENT RELEASE
Thula Sizwe / I Shall Be Released
Common People, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone
Available June 12 on all major streaming platforms.
To the Black women who keep carrying the moment — this song is yours.
Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone recorded this medley in 1990, in the wake of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison — at a time when music and movement were inseparable.
Common People carries it forward now, not as memory, but as fuel.
That momentum has not ended.
It has only changed hands.
To comfort the disheartened and embolden the courageous.
“This song has been waiting for us. And we have been waiting for this song.” — LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter
SELECTED PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Common People has performed and presented work in festivals, museums, universities, civic gatherings, justice spaces, churches, and cultural institutions across the country, including:
- The King Center’s Beloved Community Awards — Atlanta
- The Carter Center’s Human Rights Defenders Forum — Atlanta
- Nashville’s official Juneteenth celebration — NMAAM-sponsored stage
- The International Black Theatre Festival — Winston-Salem
- 55th anniversary of Dr. King’s anti-war speech — Riverside Church, Harlem
- Festival of Nations — St. Louis
- Kehinde Wiley’s An Archaeology of Silence Exhibition — de Young Museum, San Francisco
- Rush Hour — a Black / Asian Music Festival, Peters Street Station, Atlanta
- Equity in Action Visiting Scholars lecture series — University of Pennsylvania
- The Children’s Defense Fund’s annual camp — Alex Haley Farm
- Multi-city tour with Live Free USA
CURRENT PROJECTS
We the Common People | A full-bodied Common People music project gathering the band’s sound, story, and cultural purpose into one release.
We Outside | A BIPOC theatrical experience built from the Common People catalog — songs becoming story, movement, and live performance.
People in Sync | The screen-facing expression of the work: songs for film, television, documentary, and visual media.
Common Thread | Place-based musical storytelling from communities whose histories deserve to be heard.
CONTACT
For press, interviews, bookings, sync, licensing, partnerships, and development conversations: hello@commonpeople.cc