Oh, how I love being a woman in the music industry!
In honor of Women's History Month and as a belated way to celebrate International Women’s Day, I wanted to be candid about my experiences being a woman working in and entering the music industry. My identity as a woman has had a significant impact on my career, ranging from the mentorship and support I have received from other women, alongside the obstacles I have faced and will continue to encounter as I move up in my career.
Combating misogyny in the music industry has been a huge driving force in my “Why I work in music.” In 2018, when I was applying to USC’s Music Industry program, I explicitly wrote about the lack of representation of women working in the music business in my statement of purpose. Even before the Annenberg Inclusion Report was released in 2018, I knew the gender discrepancies in the music industry were in a dire state, and the data being publicly released confirming it. According to the Annenberg Inclusion Report, only 25.4% of music executives identify as a woman. This consists of 22.2% of publishing executives, 20% of radio executives, 11.7% of label executives, 7.1% of streaming executives and 6.9% of live executives.
I knew from wanting to enter the music industry that it would be male-dominated. Sure, the majority of corporate boardrooms have men outnumbering women, yet in the music business, I wouldn’t be surprised if I would ever be the only woman in a room. Luckily, I started my music industry journey at a time where I know that there are already strides made to mitigate that, including organizations and initiatives created to support women and non-binary people in music and address the gender inclusivity issue head-on. Organizations and nonprofits including She Is The Music, Amplify Her Voice, Women In Music, Girls Behind The Rock Show, Live Nation Women, shesaid.so, Femme It Forward, and Girls Who Listen (just to name a few!) have all made an impact to increase female and non-binary representation in the music industry.
In particular, She Is The Music has directly helped me in my career journey as a young woman entering the music industry. Founded in 2018 after the release of the Annenberg Inclusion Report, She Is The Music aims to increase the amount of women working in music by creating a community for female music industry professionals and creatives and a database linking female professionals to each other, alongside hosting mentorship programs and songwriting camps. I first became acquainted with She Is The Music through their Connect TogetHER Mentorship Program, as I applied and successfully was chosen to be part of their 2021 Mentee cohort in A&R/Publishing. SITM paired me with my amazing mentor Sue Drew, and with her incredible help and support, I hosted my first songwriting camp promoting women’s empowerment, the Queen Behavior Songwriting Camp. This songwriting camp allowed me to dive head-first into the realm of A&R, brought female songwriters and producers together, and empowered everyone involved. I became more involved with She Is The Music that following fall, as SITM launched their She Is U college ambassador program, in which I served as a Los Angeles chapter ambassador during my time at USC. As an ambassador, I collaborated with my other ambassadors to spread awareness of She Is The Music and even worked alongside USC Women In Music (which I was VP of Social Events for) to promote an all-female concert in Los Angeles. She Is The Music has done so much for my career so far and this organization has given me so many opportunities and has connected me with so many inspiring and accomplished women all across the music industry.
Despite all of the support I have received as a young woman entering the music industry, I cannot go without saying that my identity as a woman has affected the way my career trajectory has gone and will go. To quote the prolific singer-songwriter and superstar Taylor Swift, “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,”, and that specific lyric sums up my reality of a woman trying to make it in the music industry. I already feel like I have to work a thousand times harder just to even be taken seriously. I already know what it's like for my ideas to be dismissed yet if a man came up with them, they would have been praised. I've had to dial back my personality in professional spaces just to fit the right balance than men expect of women in the workplace: someone not too bold and overbearing, yet always putting effort into every little detail. I always wear makeup to interviews, but never a full face. If I was a man, I would be described as assertive and confident, yet because I’m a woman, I’m perceived as over-the-top and audacious.
While I have been fortunate to be surrounded by female-empowering spaces and have had the incredible opportunity to be exposed to initiatives and organizations that champion women, I know the corner of the music industry dedicated to women lifting each other up does not encapsulate the entire music industry as a whole. One instance of this occurring was when I juxtaposed the USC Music Industry program to the demographics of the music industry; around half of the students in the program identifying as women or non-binary. I realized that my program appeared to be an anomaly of sorts with the demographics being more equal numbers wise in comparison to other programs and early career music industry spaces.
Even with the gender diversity in my program, gender discrepancies and misogyny in the music industry was hardly touched upon in my classes among other DEI related topics, and I was lucky to even have had discussions on gender in the music industry in one of my classes. During my senior year at USC, I took an “Ethics In The Music Industry” class taught by one of my favorite professors (shout out Professor Leff!), and we had a class dedicated to gender in the music industry. After a very impactful discussion in this class, me and a few of my peers came to the conclusion that this issue needs to be further examined in our program to ensure that every student is aware of this issue entering the music industry. As the next generation of the music industry emerges, awareness and action towards systemic issues such as misogyny needs to be taken.
Nevertheless, entering the music industry with a conscious understanding of the misogyny, discrimination, and horrible treatment women have historically faced and still are suffering from today has not made navigating my career any easier. Statistically speaking, women are on average paid 30% less than their male counterparts at major music companies. Also, nearly half women are twice as likely to discover that they are being paid less than their colleagues in the same role, including 49% of BIPOC women, 44% of women with disabilities, 41% of LGBTQIA+ women, and 51% of women on the business side of the music industry, according to the BE THE CHANGE: Gender Equity In Music report. Alongside that, we all know how male dominated the music industry is still. Women who work in male dominated industries, such as the music industry, experience more instances of stress and a higher risk of burnout compared to women who do not work in male dominated industries. And it pains me to say that only 16% of men believe that the music industry is discriminatory on gender, compared to 51% of women and 44% of gender expansive people of BE THE CHANGE responders.
A big elephant in the room that I have to address is sexual harassment and assault. A staggering 3 in 5 women in the music industry have experience sexual assault, and 70% of women who experience sexual harassment and assault do not report it. Data from the BE THE CHANGE report also reveals that the majority of women who report sexual assault were ignored or dismissed, alongside 38% feeling blacklisted and 12% even being terminated. It is absolutely appalling that even today, post the Me Too reckoning for sexual assault awareness, that female survivors in the music industry still have to endure this. I shouldn’t have to be in fear of being taken advantage of at work and have it negatively affect my career. But unfortunately, that’s always been my reality. I’ve always had to be hypervigilant at concerts, even running into situations where I have personally felt unsafe as a woman. I have to be cognizant of everything that is said to me. The patriarchal power dynamic affects women's careers across all industries, but especially in music.
I’m going to be completely honest: putting out what I just shared and drawing it back to my experiences feels vulnerable. Even though we are in an age where DEI initiatives are commonplace at music companies, it takes a long time for perspectives across the board to shift, even in an industry that is making strides to prioritize inclusion. I love being a woman in music, but from a hiring standpoint, it feels like I’m one lap down in a race I know I can win.
Even though I know I’ve had to overcome obstacles, I would like to acknowledge that my perspective is coming from a place of privilege, as I am a white woman who will never truly understand the experiences that women of color have, alongside the systemic barriers they face. I want to use my privilege to amplify and support my women of color peers in the music industry, and intersectionality goes hand in hand with achieving equity in the music industry. I was fortunate enough to attend a panel at USC that highlighted BIPOC women in the music industry, and I learned a lot about what it means to be an ally to women of color.
With all of that being said, being a woman in the music industry has been such an important part of my career. In spite of the systemic barriers that hurt women in the music business, I have already felt the support of the community that is women working in music. From my accomplished mentors that paved the way before me, to my superstar peers who make me believe that a successful career in this current music industry is possible, I have never felt more energized and empowered by my fellow women in music.
If there is anything that should be taken away from this piece, it is that it is so important to support women working in the music business, and mentorship and community go a long way in amplifying the voices of the women who are the backbone of this industry. To my fellow women and non-binary people reading this article: may we all uplift each other towards success. I’m so passionate about being a part of the next generation of women entering the music industry, and can’t wait to be involved in initiatives and projects in my career that directly empower women.
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