Report shows depth of gender gap in UK music biz

By Emmanuel Legrand

Women account for 14.18% of the 12,040 writers represented by UK publishers, while female artists account for 19.69% of British labels' rosters, according to a report titled 'Counting The Music Industry: The Gender Gap' penned by former BASCA CEO Vick Bain. 'Counting the Music Industry' is a gender gap analysis based on data from 300 music publishers and record labels in the UK.

  The gender disparity is also reflected in executives positions: 82% of CEOs of UK music publishing companies are male, and 36.67% of those working for UK music publishers are female while 63.33% are male. When it comes to artists, the report found that genres such as classical, pop, folk and jazz have higher representation of women than in the electronic, rock, metal and grime genres. However, the proportion of women never exceeds 30% (classical).

  "There has been increased participation by girls and women in music education at all levels over the past five years, to near equity, often gaining better results than their male counterparts. And yet female graduates do not seem to be as successful as their male colleagues in starting careers," stated the report.

A deficit of women

  Bain wrote: "The deficit of women in these figures, the gender gap, suggest systemic practices of implicit and explicit discrimination across the entire music industry."

  To address this deficit, Bain makes a series of recommendations that, if achieved over the next five years,could significantly improve music’s gender gaps:

> Government:
Improve legislation extend pay-gap reporting, paternity cover, shared parental leave for self employed, extend maternity protections, greater protection against sexual harassment and victimisation, strengthen flexible working requests, and provide greater access to legal advice.

> All Music Businesses:
- Support one female positive initiative per year such as Women in Music, SheSaidSo, Girls-I-Rate, Keychange, WDM Collective, Illuminate Women’s Music, Parental Pay Equality, Women in Music Awards, among others.
- Conduct an audit of staff and rosters and set their own diversity targets Improve female recruitment, especially in leadership roles.
- Improve female talent retention in companies for those aged 35+ by instigating flexible working and ‘return to work’ initiatives.
- Record labels to sign more female musicians going forward with an ultimate aim of 50%.
- Music publishers to sign a minimum of 40% female composers going forward.

  "Each of these issues can and must be systematically addressed by government, our education system and our music workplaces," wrote Bain. "There are already organisations in the industry tackling these issues and they need greater support."