British Music Business launches Industrywide survey

Umbrella organisation UK Music launched a a cross-industry survey focusing on the gender and ethnic staffing of record labels, publishers, collection societies, promoters, management companies and distributors. It is the first in-depth survey of this kind to be conducted about the British music industry, which, much like in America, has long attracted criticism for a shortage of senior level female, black and ethnic minority executives. The results of the survey will be published later this year.  

Ayesha Hazarika, senior advisor at labels trade body BPI, commented:

Music is proud of its artists’ diversity but this should be better reflected across the executives who lead and shape the industry. A vital first step so we can get a snap shot of what the industry currently looks like.

Keith Harris, who has chaired the UK Music Diversity Taskforce since its inception in 2015, added:

It is important that the music industry is in the vanguard of the creative industries when it comes to equality and diversity, so that we can make the most of the benefits of having such a diverse society, which has served Britain so well in the past.

The lack of diversity within the music industry was placed under the spotlight at this year’s Brit Awards when no black artists were nominated in any of the major U.K. categories, despite the critical and commercial success of home-grown acts like Lianne La Havas, Kwabs, Laura Mvula, Ella Eyre and grime artists such as Stormzy and Lethal Bizzle. The resulting condemnation generated its own Oscar-copying hashtag, #BritsSoWhite and led to Brits chairman Ged Doherty writing an open letter in which he pledged to make future editions of the event “more truly representative of modern British music.