The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s latest report reveals that women and people of color still face challenges rising through the executive ranks.
The lsweep for music’s top executives remains overwhelmingly white and male, according to a new report from the USC Annenberg taking in Initiative. The study notes that description at the highest levels of the music industry has remained minimal despite the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) report made by major music companies in 2020—many of which are performing worse today than when the data was last collected in 2021.
On Wednesday (March 12), Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released their second report on Inclusion in the Music Industry — in collaboration with Believe and Tunecore — focusing on the gender and racial/ethnic identity of music executives, using data collected from a survey of 2,793 executives from 106 music companies.
In a key finding, 86.8% of senior executives (i.e., CEOs and presidents) at a smaller subset of 37 large, independent music companies were men, while 92.1% were white. The three non-white executives, two of whom were women of color, ran independent companies.
“Much has been said about the ‘Year of the Woman’ in music,
highlighting the work of artists like Taylor Swift , Beyoncé , Chappell Roan , and Sabrina Carpenter ,” the report notes. “While the music scene may seem increasingly open to female artists, executive positions have remained unchanged. Women hold less than 20% of leadership roles and are still rarely part of senior leadership teams at major companies.”
“Compared to 2021, there was no increase in the percentage of senior executives who were women, people of color, or women of color in these roles—in fact, the percentage of underrepresented senior executives subside,” the report adds.
Focusing on just six transnational music companies (Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, iHeartMedia, and SiriusXM), the report found that only one-third of all senior executives at those amity were women, while 16.7% were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. In total, only eight women of color held those positions, representing 10.3%.
In a broader analysis of the 106 companies’ top executives—which drops to 77 when subsidiaries are included—men held 84.4% of CEO/president positions, while women held only 15.6%. The majority of these top executives (82.2%) were white, while only 17.8% were from underrepresented groups. Women of color held only 4.4% of these top positions.
According to the report, among all companies surveyed,
the presence of female executives decreases significantly as the level of responsibility increases. In the senior management categories of CEO/president, EVP/SVP/GM, and VP/GM, women are most likely to hold VP/GM positions, at 43.9%. This percentage drops to 38.1% for EVP/SVP/GM positions, and further decreases to 25.6% for CEO/president positions.
A similar pattern is observed among underrepresented executives, who make up 25.9% of vice president/director roles, but only 19.7% and 21% of executive vice president/senior vice president/general manager and chairman/president positions, respectively. Only 10% of all executives in these categories were women of color.
The report suggests that the lack of female representation in senior roles could be due to two main consequences of gender-based beliefs about leadership. “The first is that [women] may not be promoted to leadership positions because they are not perceived to possess the traditionally masculine traits associated with leadership,” the report notes. “The second is that when women behave in ways that violate their gender role, perhaps exhibiting leader-like behavior, they are penalized. Women may therefore be excluded from promotion for reasons not based on their actual performance, but on gender expectations that still influence their evaluation.”
Dr. Smith and her team
(which includes report authors Dr. Katherine Pieper, Zoe Moore, and Sam Wheeler) also broke down the findings into five sectors: bands, record labels, publishers, streaming, and music distribution.
The music distribution sector has the highest percentage of female executives (47.8%), significantly more than the other four types of companies, none of which reached 40%. Women hold 39.4% of executive positions at record labels, 38.3% at music groups, 37.6% at publishing companies, and 37.2% at streaming companies.
On the other hand, record labels lead the proportion of underrepresented executives, representing 30.1% of executive positions. This percentage is still below the proportional representation in the US population (with 41.6% underrepresentation, according to US Census data ), but is better than that of music groups (25.1%), music distribution (23.1%), streaming (17.9%), and publishing (16.3%). “Compared to the 2021 analysis, the current landscape shows a significant decline in the representation of underrepresented executives within the streaming sector,” the report says. “There were no significant changes for the other industry categories.”
A closer look at women of color in executive roles indicates that record labels (13.4%) were significantly more likely to include underrepresented women in leadership roles than streaming companies (7.5%) and publishing companies (6.9%). Music groups (11.8%) and music distribution companies (9.9%) were somewhere in between.
“The lack of underrepresented
executives in key leadership roles is particularly disappointing because, in recent years, finding ways to promote talented people of color has been a priority for the industry,” the report notes. “Efforts to address persistent gaps have included the launch of industry-wide coalitions, task forces, and company-specific plans. Despite this, the underlying biases that hinder hiring and promotion have clearly not been addressed. To see more underrepresented leaders in the music industry, it is required to value the skills, perspectives, and leadership traits that people of color bring to these roles.”
For women of color, the hindrance to reaching the top of the music industry remain the highest. Among the smallest subset of 37 music companies, only 5.3% of top executives and 10.3% of senior management teams are comprised of women of color.
“The lack of women of color in leadership positions contrasts with the strong performance of women of color as artists and songwriters in recent years,” the report states. “It’s clear that the music industry values women of color, but not their leadership.”
The report proposes three practical opportunities to generate change. First,
it recommends using specific and measurable criteria in hiring, evaluation, and promotion processes. Second, it suggests creating promotion paths that take into account the diverse experiences needed to lead effectively, while ensuring that performance indicators are met. Third, it urges implementing industry-driven solutions.
“The music industry has faced a difficult season with layoffs across multiple companies,” the report states. “Furthermore, the overall cultural landscape is dismissive or even hostile toward so-called DEI initiatives, leading to distrust or even abandonment of principles and activities designed to cultivate and foster talent. Despite these challenges, the music industry must not give up on adopting strategies that allow the most qualified employees to advance to positions of greater responsibility and leadership, regardless of their identity.”
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