New Study Suggests Lack of Representation In the Music Industry

While some areas have improved over the years, there’s nonetheless an extended strategy to go.

USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has launched their sixth annual examine exploring inclusion in the music business—and the outcomes are bleak.

While some areas have improved over the years, the examine total reveals a scarcity of illustration inside the business.

This examine examined the gender and race of artists, songwriters and music producers behind the songs on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart, in addition to the demographics of nominees throughout six key classes at the Grammy Awards. Researchers examined 1,100 fashionable songs from 2012 to 2022, in addition to Grammy nominees from 2013 to 2023.

Gender

According to USC’s examine, there have been 160 artists on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart in 2022. 69.4% have been male and 30% have been feminine and fewer than 1% of artists recognized as nonbinary.

Across 11 years evaluated, 76.6% of artists have been males and 22.3% have been ladies. On the brilliant aspect, 2022 marked a brand new excessive for ladies artists throughout all 11 years. The proportion of feminine artists in 2022 (30%) was considerably larger than that of 2021 (23.3%) and 2012 (22.7%), suggesting a rise of ladies on the fashionable charts over time.

After evaluating the genres of all 1,100 songs, the examine discovered that ladies artists have been extra more likely to seem in pop songs (33%) and least more likely to seem in hip-hop songs (13.4%).

Race and ethnicity

Race and ethnicity illustration inside fashionable songs appears to be like extra optimistic. In 2022, 50.6% of all artists have been from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, per the examine, whereas 49.4% of artists have been white.

Although this sounds propitious in principle, it really represents an 8.4% level decline from the all-time excessive of 2020’s clip of 59%. Across all 11 years, 48.1% of all artists have been from an underrepresented racial group whereas 51.9% have been white.

Keep in thoughts that whereas illustration appears to be like good in the charts, it’s a unique story at the prime. The proportion of Black feminine music executives is simply 3%, in accordance with a earlier Annenberg report.

Songwriters and Producers

Across a complete of 5,247 songwriters credited, 85.7% have been males and 14% have been ladies. The ratio of males to ladies songwriters was 6.8 to 1. Overall, 57% of songs throughout 11 years didn’t embrace a single feminine songwriter. In distinction, simply six songs—lower than 1%—have been absent of male songwriters.

If you assume the songwriting demographics look dangerous, the producing credit are even worse. Across 800 songs, 2.8% of all producers have been ladies whereas 97.1% have been males. This is a ratio of 34.1 males to each 1 girl. Moreover, of the 50 ladies credited as producers throughout the pattern, 13—or 26%—have been ladies of colour.

The Grammys

From 2013 to 2023, 2,441 people have been nominated for a Grammy Award throughout six main classes: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Producer of the Year. Songwriter of the Year was launched as a class at this yr’s sixty fifth annual ceremony.

Of the 514 nominees in 2023, 84.8% have been males and 15.2% have been ladies. Just one nonbinary artist was nominated. Overall, ladies comprised solely 13.9% of complete nominees throughout all classes for the sampled years. Moreover, of the 340 ladies nominated in the final 11 years, 51.5% have been white and 48.5% have been from an underrepresented racial group.

While the report discovered progress for feminine performers in music, ladies behind the scenes noticed little change and girls of colour proceed to face challenges. The researchers’ answer? Hire extra ladies.

You can learn the full report right here.

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