6 NYC politicians on the policies local music needs to thrive

Bed Stuy City Council Member Chi Osse was not on the ballot in 2026, having won his four-year term in 2025, but the social media savvy communicator has been a key player in elevating (and enacting) progressive policy in the City — like the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act, which bans forced broker's fees.

In 2026, Osse helped get out the vote for DSA-backed candidates like Eon Huntley who won the primary for New York State Assembly District 56 against incumbent, Stefani Zinerman, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights areas of Brooklyn.

The FADER: What song are you playing to celebrate?
Chi Osse: “Crown on the Ground” by Sleigh Bells

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
Chi Osse: NYC’s music community needs artist housing: deeply affordable housing set aside for NYC creatives.

Aber Kawas won the Democratic nomination for New York's State Senate District 12 in Queens. The activist and organizer is set to be the first Palestinian Muslim woman elected to the New York State Senate.

The FADER: What song are you playing to celebrate?
Aber Kawas: The song I’ve been listening to is Olivia Dean’s cover of "You've Got a Friend" — I had such an incredible team of volunteers work on the campaign who came through in incredible ways and this song reminds me of their dedication

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
Aber Kawas: Simple: tax the rich and fund the arts in public schools.

Public defender and policy advocate Eli Northup won the Democratic nomination for the New York State Assembly District 69 (Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley, and Morningside Heights) on a platform of building more low-income housing, enacting universal childcare, and defending undocumented New Yorkers.

The FADER: What song are you playing to celebrate?
Eli Northup: “Day One” by Bon Iver!

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
Eli Northup: We need to be supporting small venues that give opportunity to emerging artists. I was in a band, Pants Velour for over a decade. Places like Pianos and Arlene’s Grocery need to be protected at all costs

Also universal healthcare would be huge for many artists. Need to pass the New York Health Act.

What song are you playing to celebrate?
Phara Souffrant Forrest: “Bodak Yellow” by Cardi B and “So Much Trouble In The World" by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
Phara Souffrant Forrest: New York City’s music scene has shaped generations, telling stories, uplifting our communities and driving movements for justice and change. However, musicians and small venues that make this city’s sound aren’t separate from the affordability crisis everyone else is living through. Rising rents push rehearsal spaces, and working artists that built our culture in the first place. The Fair Share Act (A8953) — which will enact a modest 2% surcharge on income over $1 million that could raise up to $4 billion a year for the things that keep New Yorkers, and the city’s creative life, rooted here: affordable housing, childcare, transit, and the public investment that makes it possible to stay.

Progressive social worker and former aide to departing assembly member Jessica González-Rojas, Brian Romero ran on a platform of advocating for tenant protections and taxing the wealthy in New York State Assembly District 34 (Astoria, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside).

The FADER: What song are you playing to celebrate?
Brian Romero:“Dai Dai” by Shakira and Burna Boy.

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
Brian Romero: We absolutely need to pass legislation to regulate AI to protect the music industry from copyright infringement.

Immigrant workers' rights attorney and union organize David Orkin won the Democratic nomination for New York State Assembly's 38th District (Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, and Ozone Park) on a platform of strengthening workers' rights and protecting immigrant New Yorkers.

The FADER: What song are you playing to celebrate?
David Orkin: “Funkytown” of course.

What policy does NYC’s music community need to thrive?
David Orkin: Arts workers are workers - what this race, and the movement behind it, proves is that workers win when they organize. I was proud to have many artists contributing their talents to my campaign, from the beautiful murals decorating our campaign office, to the incredible short films they made to highlight the stakes of this race and the people at its center.

But artists need all the things that every working New Yorker needs. Gig workers in AD38, whether Lyft and Uber drivers or nightlife performers or independent producers, face even greater precarity in their healthcare and housing and childcare because of the inconsistent nature of their work. Our current labor laws also prevent them from organizing together - and when an app is your boss, or an AI model is stealing your intellectual property, you don't even have a human boss to organize against.

I bring a unique skill set as an immigrant worker's rights attorney to this issue, and I intend for one of my main policy priorities to be strengthening labor laws for gig and app based workers. Having organized nightlife and arts workers in AD38, I bring real world experience to the job.

Finally - commercial rent stabilization! We have such great venues here in AD38, but we have to make sure they can stay here, so music lovers and musicians can afford to make our corner of Queens (“Little Funkytown”) their artistic home for as long as they want to.