FEATURE:
Breaking the Boys’ Club
PHOTO CREDIT: Thgusstavo Santana/Pexels
Continued Efforts to Tackle Misogyny in Music
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I am going to write about this…
PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
in a separate feature. At the moment, a lot of cases are arising of men in the music industry being accused of sexual assault and violence. It is a sorry state of affairs that, almost every week, some form of atrocity is being reported. It brings firmer into question what can be done to protect women in the industry. Even if a lot of the allegations are historic, the fact is that women have either been silenced or felt fearful of speaking out beforehand. Or they feel like they won’t be believed at all. I think coercion and control is something that impacts women throughout music. I discovered this update via Vanessa Threadgold of Cactus City. She posted a tweet regarding an update in the #misogynyinmusic inquiry - a further call for evidence, this time focusing on NDAs. The evidence won’t be made public:
“Misogyny in music: the use of NDAs in the music sector
Written evidence is sought on any or all of the following:
The prevalence of the use of NDAs to silence victims of gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry;
The motivations for (a) creating and (b) signing an NDA;
Circumstances of individual NDAs including the roles of those involved (including employment status);
Whether efforts were made to report inappropriate behaviour before an NDA was reached; and
Whether NDAs have been used in cases where behaviour might be criminal.
Important information about making a submission
Please read this section before making a submission. This information is particularly important for people making written submissions in an individual capacity, and about their own lived experience.
Written evidence must address the terms of reference as set out above, but please note that submissions do not have to address every point. Guidance on giving evidence to a select committee of the House of Commons is available here.
Individual cases
In line with the general practice of select committees the Women and Equalities Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.
How your submission will be treated
Evidence received will not be made public, but common themes from evidence will inform the Committee’s inquiry, its final report and recommendations to government and industry.
Parliament’s powers of privilege mean that sharing details of an NDA with the Committee cannot be used as evidence in legal proceedings, and therefore direct legal action cannot be taken against a person for sharing the information. It would also be a potential contempt to subject a person to detriment as a consequence of providing information to Parliament”.
It is a complex area to traverse, though it is clear that there are a lot of women experiencing misogyny and abuse who are being silenced and pushed aside. The fact is that misogyny is not highlighted enough or punished. It is not a criminal offence. That is fair, though there is so much of it online and in society that is not called out! You can look at the details and timeline of past events where evidence has been provided:
"In recent years, news reports and some studies have brought to the forefront the extent to which misogyny exists in the music industry. This inquiry aims to examine what misogynistic attitudes exist in the industry and why. It aims to uncover, in more detail, how these attitudes can filter through to society, impacting attitudes towards and treatment of women and girls, including at live music events. Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.
The Committee has issued a new call for evidence specifically on the use of NDAs in the music sector - read that call for evidence for more details.
This inquiry is part of the committee’s work into Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Rita Ora
The hope is that there is change and laws passed very soon. That practices change regarding NDAs, and that women throughout music are protected and free to speak out when it comes to misogyny. This is not a rare or minor issue. Artists like Rita Ora have spoken about misogyny in the industry. Women are leaving the industry because of sexual harassment and misogyny. I think that the industry is still a boys’ club. I have written about this recently – though it very much warrants repetition and enforcing. I will expand on that more soon. First, I want to drop in a Music Week feature from the summer around the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into misogyny and violence against women and girls:
“Major label executives have spoken about initiatives to tackle misogyny in music.
They were questioned at the fifth session of the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry, as part of its umbrella inquiry into preventing violence against women and girls.
The executives appearing were:
- Jessica Carsen, senior vice president, communications and public affairs, Sony Music UK & Ireland
- Isabel Garvey, chief operating officer, Warner Music UK
- Natasha Mann, director of diversity and inclusion, Universal Music UK
Previous sessions in this inquiry took evidence from music festival organisers, music industry representatives, organisations that support women in music and academics.
The latest session looked at how labels are addressing the gender imbalance of artists on their rosters, as well as the way in which labels respond to allegations of discrimination or abuse against women by their staff.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wendy Wei/Pexels
Talent pipeline
Committee chair Caroline Nokes raised the absence of female headliners at Glastonbury 2023, and whether labels had any responsibility for that situation.
“In terms of line-ups and pipeline, we want to sign as many women as we can,” said Jessica Carsen. “We are hugely proud of the female artists that we have on our roster. And we have a variety of ways in which we invest heavily in the pipeline at a company level.”
“We’re definitely focused on making sure we have as equal a gender balance as we can,” she added. “We've got some amazing female artists, we do everything that we can to support them.”
Carsen highlighted a “whole raft of policies that are designed to create a really inclusive workforce”, including the major’s A&R Academy trying to get more women into record labels. The first cohort was 80% female.
“We've made a lot of recent senior promotions to the heads of record labels, and that's one of the ways in which we try and make sure that the roster is as diverse as it can be,” she added.
Sony Music UK’s roster breakdown for frontline album artists is 38% female, 1% non-binary and 61% male.
Sony Music launched a childcare initiative last year to provide help with costs alongside equal parental leave and coaching programmes. Its menopause support policies include flexible working arrangements like core hours.
Isabel Garvey, who moved from Abbey Road to Warner Music earlier this year, told the committee that 40% of the major’s roster was female.
“We are sponsoring huge swathes of female talent that's coming through at the moment,” she said.
Garvey noted that the last four Rising Star winners at the BRITs were all female.
The three execs rebuffed any suggestion that the companies were more likely to sign men. All agreed that a 50:50 gender balance was the goal in terms of rosters.
“We're very cognisant, as an organisation, that we need label teams that look like the artists, that we have representation across the gender balance, and also minority representation,” said Garvey.
Natasha Mann revealed a particular issue with hip-hop. Excluding that genre, Universal Music UK actually signed more female artists than male in 2022.
“I think what that tells you is that we have some genre-specific issues that I think the industry needs to dig into,” she told MPs. “I don't think we can sit here and say that women don't want to be hip-hop artists, so I think we need to look at that.”
The major does work closely with the next generation of talent through connections with ELAM and the BRIT School.
“I think what we need to do as an industry is constantly try and look at the pipeline a little bit further back [in the process], as well as being critical and trying to gather data on our own ever-evolving roster,” said Mann.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ike louie Natividad/Pexels
Pressures on female artists
While the executives spoke with confidence about the policies to support women, there was a recognition that a career in music is often harder for female artists.
“Undoubtedly, there are more pressures on women than men,” Mann told MPs. “I don't have to tell you guys that. It's societal. But when we sort of zoom in on the music industry, does it still exist? Absolutely. Is there more pressure on social media and within the media? Yeah, I think it bears it out that it can be a tougher route.
“When we look at things like representation… It's helpful to have role models who you can look up to and aspire to in any walk of life. And it's helpful for people to have well-trodden paths that you can then comfortably follow in. So I do think there's more pressure on women. I think there's more pressure on women of colour.”
“Women have a bigger consideration often for hair and make-up,” said Carsen. “We have better support [at Sony] for things like making sure we have a make-up artist who can do proper make-up for Black skin, for example.
“We try really hard to think holistically about the total package of support that we can put in place, because the artists' wellbeing, along with our employees, is absolutely at the core of everything that we do.”
Sony Music also employs a director of artist and employee wellbeing.
Execs suggested that the team around an artist can make a positive difference.
“Every artist, male or female, is subject to so much scrutiny particularly on social media,” said Garvey. “It's not just a time management issue. It's a mental health issue as well. So we will certainly offer support services for our artists where they can speak to a therapist to make sure that they're being supported correctly. We, as labels, are acutely aware of the demands on an artist these days, so we look to make sure that we manage that for them.”
Caroline Dinenage MP, a former Culture minister, raised the impact of TikTok on artists, noting the “massive pressure that Lewis Capaldi has been under recently’.
“We have a lot of conversations about what that means in terms of expectations of content, how fast you have to put content out, different varieties of content,” said Carsen. “We are putting a much greater emphasis on the mental health pressures that all artists face, but particularly women as well”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Annie Macmanus
I think one issue is that misogyny is a word that is either misunderstood or not defined enough. Its actual definition is a “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women”. Silencing, assault, discrimination against and abuse aimed at women - in terms of the music industry and what is being raised at the moment - concerns misogyny. As I have highlighted before, misogyny in music can often be explained like this: the industry is still a boys’ club. In September, Annie Macmanus and Rebecca Ferguson spoke about their experiences. How women are being silenced and do not feel free to speak out:
“Yesterday saw the latest session with two witnesses: DJ, broadcaster and author Annie Macmanus (aka Annie Mac) and musician and campaigner Rebecca Ferguson. Both laid out the problems they see within the industry, and where they want to see change happening.
“The music industry is a boy’s club. Everybody knows everyone in the top levels. All the people at the very top levels have the money, and thus all the power,” said Macmanus. “The system is kinda rigged against women.”
She cited the example of a young artist who’d been to the pub with the head of her label, then been sexually assaulted by them.
“If you’re her, you can either complain and risk your career that you’ve fought so hard for being compromised, or you can crack on, which is what she did. She’s now in a more powerful position. But still if you speak out as an artist now… you don’t want to be defined by being what is deemed as a ‘difficult’ woman,” said Macmanus.
“You don’t want to be defined, also, by something that happened to you that’s deeply traumatic. You want your artistry to come first. You want that to be how you succeed. So if you come out and speak on behalf of something that happened to you, you’ll forever be defined by that.”
Ferguson addressed the pressures placed on women artists, from being told to go on diets to being pushed towards more sexualised images.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mateus Souza/Pexels
“There seems to be an over-sexualisation of women, especially Black women, actually. I’ve noticed that, and was very conscious of that when I entered the industry. People definitely do want you to become more sexualised, as it were. I noticed it was happening a lot to Black women in music, and I didn’t like it,” she said.
“I was very conscious of it, and I was therefore very conscious of how I dressed: very vintage, very conservative. More so because I didn’t want young Black women to think that that was the only example of how people that look like me have to be. Not that there’s anything wrong with a woman expressing her sexual identity. I just don’t like it when it’s being forced upon them by men.”
Both agreed with that having more women – and particularly women of colour – in senior positions within the industry would be a big leap forward. “More women in the boardroom would make for a more equal industry, definitely,” said Macmanus.
“Just make sure that everyone can see somebody that looks like them, to feel like they’re being represented,” said Ferguson. “And maybe get some younger people [on the boards] actually. The younger generation have a different mindset: they don’t tolerate what we tolerated.”
Macmanus stressed the need for a shift where women can speak out about harms they see or experience, without their careers being compromised.
“I feel like there’s a lot of revelations that have not been exposed… It’s infuriating: the amount of women who just have stories of sexual assault that have just buried them and carried them. It’s just unbelievable,” she said.
“I do think if something were to happen. If one person were to speak that had enough profile where it got media attention, I think there could be a tidal wave of it, definitely”.
This is not only a case of individual women facing misogyny and there being the need to get them justice. The music industry as a whole is being damaged by misogyny. It is an ill and perpetual issue that I hope we do not have to talk about years from now. The fact that brave and determined women are campaigning against the use of NDAs in the music sector. One priority for the industry next year concerns equality. Ensuring that women throughout the industry are given more opportunities and are treated more equitably. That they are heard and protected. That they do not have to experience such widespread abuse, discrimination and harassment. A lot of great work is being done already. I don’t feel there are enough male allies speaking out and adding their voices. Even if they do not have that experience of abuse and discrimination that women face, they can show their support and empathy. Not enough men in positions of power resolved to make changes and tackle root causes. All of this need to be addressed and discussed heavily next year. As I seem to say when I sign off any feature like this: women throughout the music industry…
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DESERVE much better.