FEATURE:
After International Women’s Day…
IN THIS PHOTO: Megan Thee Stallion is one of the brightest names in music. Her debut album, Good News, was released in November 2020 to huge acclaim/PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Will/Invision/AP
Greater Equality for Women in Music
___________
YESTERDAY (8th)…
IN THIS PHOTO: Dry Cleaning/PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Miles for DIY
was International Women’s Day. I was listening to BBC Radio 6 Music, as they dedicated the entire day to female artists. So many other stations were saluting great women in music. There were also a few articles published that caught my eye. Despite the fact we got this day of celebration for women, there was also call for equality and better representation. In music, there is no doubt that some of the best music of the moment is being made by women. In fact, I think that the finest music is coming from women. I was hoping that radio stations would balance their playlists a bit more after International Women’s Day. Whilst there has been some improvements on some stations, I don’t think many have a fifty-fifty split. Most stations, from what I can see, have two-thirds male artists/bands. There is some deviation on various shows, but one only need check the schedules of most radio stations to see that men outweigh women in terms of exposure. Some might say that Pop music’s biggest artists are men – or the most commercially successful at least -, so that would account for it. Most radio stations do not purely rely on the Pop charts and are more varied with their output. I listen to BBC Radio 1 a little bit and, whilst they are not as male-leaning as stations like Radio X, one could argue why more women are not included. I think there are so many great female Pop artists that are being excluded but, more than that, one can break away genres and realise that the way things are regarding radio playlists requires overhaul.
IN THIS PHOTO: Maren Morris/PHOTO CREDIT: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Others might contest stations play the artists who are most popular, so if men are in the majority then this reflects chart positions and sales. An article from The Guardian yesterday showcases how, even though we marked International Women’s Day, there is still imbalance in Pop and at award ceremonies:
“The music industry continues to marginalise women, according to the latest instalment of a landmark US survey on representation in pop.
In 2020, women were outnumbered on the US Billboard charts by men at a ratio of 3.9 to 1, according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s annual study of the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart.
Women including Dua Lipa, Maren Morris, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion made up 20.2% of the 173 artists that appeared on the chart in 2020, dropping from 22.5% in 2019 – and a high of 28.1% in 2016.
“It is International Women’s Day everywhere, except for women in music, where women’s voices remain muted,” said Dr Stacy L Smith, who led the survey. “While women of colour comprised almost half of all women artists in the nine years examined, there is more work needed to reach inclusion in this business.”
The number of women working among the 449 songwriters responsible for the most popular songs in the US in 2020 had also dropped to 12.9% from 14.4% in 2019. On last year’s year-end Hot 100 chart, 65% of songs did not feature any women songwriters – the highest level of exclusion since the survey began in 2012.
IN THIS PHOTO: Mariah Carey
Women also remained woefully underrepresented as producers in 2020, making up just 2% of the 198 production credits on hit songs – compared with 5% a year prior, which was a high in the survey’s history.
Representation dropped further among women of colour, with only Mariah Carey – as co-producer of All I Want for Christmas Is You – credited with producing a song that made the 2020 Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart, albeit one first released in 1994.
The Inclusion Initiative report also surveyed Grammy nominations from 2013 to 2021 in the five major categories. The representation of women had increased fairly steadily year-on year, rising to a high of 28.1% in this year’s ceremony, which takes place in Los Angeles this Sunday.
There were nearly four times as many women nominated for a Grammy in the five major categories in 2021 as there were in 2013. The rise is potentially a result of the Recording Academy instituting in 2018 a task force to address anti-women bias after then-president Neil Portnow made widely criticised remarks on how women needed to “step up” if they wanted to be recognised on the same level as their male counterparts”.
Although there are positives signs at the Grammys, I feel that there is still a way to go. Many have argued dispensing with gender-specific categories at award shows. It is good news that some festivals are going ahead this year. One big fear is that many will not commit to a gender-equal bill. Glastonbury is not happening in 2021; this was one of very few festivals that announced a fifty-fifty split on their bill before the pandemic shut down live music.
PHOTO CREDIT: @hannynaibaho/Unsplash
I hope things improve regarding radio playlists, as I think a lot of festival bookings are made off of the back of these stations. The statistics are alarming across the broad! From festival line-ups/headliners to playlists through to female songwriters seen in the Pop charts, not much has changed over the past few years. As this article explores, female producers (especially those of colour) are in the vast minority:
“Women producers – and particularly women of colour – are virtually erased from the music industry”, says Stacy L Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, commenting on the latest figures. “Only 5% of the songs in our sample spanning nine years of popular music had a woman producer. Harnessing the opportunity to showcase women’s talent and their creative contributions is essential if the record business wants to reach equality”.
The report also references the Women In The Mix initiative launched by the US Recording Academy, which encourages artists, labels and others in the industry to pledge that “at least two women will be considered in the selection process every time a music producer or engineer is hired”. This initiative seems to be having no effect when it comes to the hits, the new report concludes”.
Let’s hope that a lot of the unity and fantastic music we heard played on International Women’s Day will provoke changes in the industry; awareness raised of the statistics and an encouragement to bring more women into the studios. Radio playlists need to aim for gender equality, as do festival and award shows. There is a wealth of female talent out there across all genres. Those who say men dominate because they are creating the best and most important music. That is patently not true. The breadth, ability and variation of music made by women is out there but is not being played enough or featured on prominent Spotify playlists. Fantastic music made by women (and women of colour) is not being recognised; studios are still male-heavy. I hope that those in the industry and those who can make changes pledge to do so…
WHEN the pandemic is over.