Save the Music, a music education nonprofit launched in 1997, has announced that it will be an independent nonprofit organization as Paramount Global ends its longtime funding relationship with the organization.

The media giant is ending its nearly 30-year support of the organization, and Save the Music is starting an endowment with the aim of raising $10 million to sustain itself. Save the Music has invested more than $75 million to over 2,800 schools, providing grants for music programs impacting millions of children and donating instruments to schools, as well as providing advocacy and instructional support.

Most of the organization's funding had not been coming from Paramount in recent years, but rather from major companies, including Amazon, TikTok, and Meta; major record labels; and philanthropists such as MacKenzie Scott. Save the Music has raised $4 million to date.

“Going independent is a huge step forward for us—and the culmination of a five-year effort from our team, partners, and boards,” said Save the Music executive director Henry Donahue. “In every school I visit—from the Bronx to Miami, Philadelphia to Los Angeles, Detroit to Columbus, Memphis to New Orleans—I find that the music room is a special place. The students are excited to be there, and they are creative, thoughtful, and optimistic in a way that should give us all hope for the future.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/skynesher)