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The latest ‘Inclusion in the Recording Studio?’ report from USC Annenberg has proven to be less than positive. Providing an insight to Gender and Race/Ethnicity of Artists, Songwriters & Producers across 1,000 Popular Songs from 2012-2021, the study by Karla Hernandez, Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Dr. Katherine Pieper demonstrates there is still much to be done to provide fair opportunities to all people.
USC Annenberg explains that the study is updated each year, and currently measures results between 2012 and 2021 by looking at 1,000 popular songs. Assessing industry inclusion across the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart, this investigation has examined gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters, and producers credited across 1,000 songs on this popular chart from 2012 to 2021. During the same time frame, USC Annenberg evaluated demographic characteristics of Grammy® nominees receiving recognition in the following categories: Record the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Producer of the Year.
Additionally, it has been important to also evaluate the efficacy of inclusion initiatives in the music business. Similar to previous reports in 2019 and 2020, they focused here on evaluating the Women in the Mix initiative by the Recoding Academy and whether pledges made by those in the music industry to work with women producers and engineers converted to actual employment opportunities. In the past years, this initiative has been completely ineffective.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, initiative founder Dr. Stacy Smith explained her view on the results saying:
“There could be a lot of conjecture, articles written, performative stances, and checks and statements made, but I think the key word here is stagnancy. For women artists, you’re seeing virtually identical trends from 2012, and we’re not seeing progress across the board. Despite a lot of the clamor and despite the cacophony of voices that things are changing, our data suggests strongly otherwise.”
While co-author Dr. Katherine Pieper added:
“Women are sexualized and stereotyped, they are dismissed, and they are not seen as leaders in their roles. The information has been out there, and there’s been a collective forgetting that this is the experience women face in the business.”
When it comes to gender equality in the music industry, it’s additionally discouraging to see a plethora of names of men working at the top who have been through the legal system (such as Dr. Luke) and others who compose scathing and misogynistic lyrics about ex-partners, and those who are rife with ongoing rumours of crimes against women and girls.
The Women In The Mix pledge is an initiative that asks that at least two women are considered in the selection process every time a music producer or engineer is hired. Among the names who have signed the pledge include Ryan Adams, who famously ‘dangled success’ to young women musicians in order to manipulate and sexually harass them.
It’s fairly unique yet refreshing to see the pledges have been called into question in this publication also, with Dr. Smith explaining:
“There’s very little follow through, very little praise or consequences based on their actions. When people decide to be pledge-takers or decide to jump on a hot thing people are making press noise about, they need to think seriously because a lot of folks are watching. To have a pledge that makes a lot of noise but doesn’t yield a lot of return sends a message that’s strong and clear about who’s wanted in this industry and who’s not.”
The findings show there has been no progress in popular songs for women. For women artists overall, there has been no significant change in the percentage of women reaching the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts since 2012. Though women solo artists have seen an uptick from 2020 to 2021, this reflects a rebound after a dip following 2019 and does not reach the 10-year high point achieved in 2016. Although women were more likely to chart with a pop song than any other genre, the year-end popular charts are still not a place where women artists find recognition for their work.
This is also true for women songwriters and producers. Women songwriters in 2021 were still outnumbered at a ratio of 6 to 1 compared to men songwriters on the year’s most popular songs. Nearly two-thirds of the 100 most popular songs of 2021 did not have any women songwriters. The percentage of women producers has also remained stubbornly low—less than 5% of credited producers in 2021 and only 2.8% of producers over 7 years were women.
The reality for women of colour in the music industry is dependent on their role. As artists, women of color saw an increase such that over half of women artists were women of colour in 2021. Women comprise less than one-third of artists and given that underrepresented women are more than half of this population they only make up 10% of artists overall. Popular music is still far from representing the voices of women of colour in proportion to the U.S. population (20%).
As songwriters, women of colour outpaced white women in 2021, but remained below the 10-year high point. Yet only 1 woman of colour was credited as a producer in 2021, with only 10 women of colour receiving producing credits across the 7 years evaluated. Thus, as the significance of a role increases, women of colour are less likely to fill the position. In addition to experiencing the barriers that arise for women overall, women of colour suggested that their race/ethnicity contributed to additional obstacles. Particularly for women of colour working as producers, these barriers limit opportunities throughout careers but especially at high-profile or lucrative levels, such as those for popular songs.
Whether because of or in spite of changes to the Grammy® voting process taking place for the 2022 show, the percentage of women nominees in major categories fell for the first time since 2019. Only 13.6% of the nominees in five major categories were women, and slightly more than half of the women nominees were white. Some of the notable changes that may have impacted the data include expanding the major categories to 10 nominees each, including featuring artists, and altering the voting process.
While there is little to feel positive about overall, there has been an improvement in racial diversity amongst the Hot 100 category, with the 2012 figures showing just 38% of artists being part of an underrepresented group compared to 57% in 2021.
“This is the fifth annual report on the popular music charts put out by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Since that first investigation, we have seen little change in the overall representation of women and women of color as artists, songwriters or producers on the popular charts from year to year. Our work has moved beyond simply tallying inclusion on the charts to evaluating specific genres (e.g., country music, Latin music), interviewing 75 women-identified songwriters and producers on the career barriers they face, and assessing the executive ranks across six sectors of the recording industry, as well as agents, managers and publicists associated with top artists.”
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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