“I’m considering moving my entire business to a traveling ministry,” Anthony shared on Tuesday, October 29.

Olivier Antoine retires from the music industry.

His announcement comes a little over a year after the release of the song “Rich Men North of Richmond.” won the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I have decided that moving forward, I will no longer need a music company in Nashville,” Anthony said in a statement. YouTube video » published on Tuesday October 29. “I don’t even have to exist in the music space. So I’m considering turning my entire business over to a traveling ministry.

Earlier, Anthony said he was “leaving the music industry”, responding to a comment on social media. multimedia videoby rolling stone.

“It’s a big joke,” he added, the outlet reported.

Related: Oliver Anthony’s Viral Country Song ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Is Controversial and Topping the Charts

Speaking in the YouTube video, the country singer added that he still plans to release music “as usual,” but that it will be done through his new ministry called “The Rural Revival Project.” . He added that it would “just be legally established as a ministry” and that its first “completely DIY” show was planned for November 2.

“I want to create a parallel routing program in Nashville that bypasses the monopolies of Live Nation and Ticketmaster,” he explained in his YouTube video. “And it goes to towns that haven’t had music in a long time and it boosts their economies.”

According to his websitethe singer said he wanted to perform in “shows in cities and counties” that are in “financial deficit” and that the project is “focused on revitalizing farms and rural communities, promoting sustainable development and improving the quality of life of populations. people living in rural areas.

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He also said he hoped to reach “people just out of rehab, suffering from PTSD, and people who are depressed and suicidal” and “learn to exist outside of a system that has us in some way been imposed.” a generation.

In the new video, the singer, whose song “Rich Men North of Richmond” was embraced by the right after its release, also questions whether or not he is a “conservative.”

Related: Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and composer Bob McDill enter the Country Music Hall of Fame

“I guess I’m a conservative,” he said. “I’m a conservative because I believe in the First and Second Amendment. I don’t know if I’m a Republican or what I am. I’m just someone who thinks the way we live is so backward and stupid. This serves no one other than the people at the top of a hierarchy that we don’t really need to serve anymore.

The sociopolitical song “Rich Men North of Richmond” first gained traction on TikTok before being uploaded to the radiowv YouTube account in August 2023. It has garnered over 32 million views on the platform and rose to the top of the charts through downloads, official streams and radio broadcasts.

Despite the success of the songs, Anthony shared on his website that he did not “want to be in the spotlight” and stated that he “wrote the music that I wrote because I was struggling with mental health and depression “.

“These songs have touched millions of people on a very deep level because they are sung by someone who feels the words as they were sung. No editing, no agent, no b——-. Just an idiot and his guitar,” said the singer-songwriter from Farmville, Virginia. “The style of music we should never have moved away from in the first place.”