Student number: FEW20077778

Assignment code: HBASHRF022

INTRODUCTION

Gender unfortunately does have quite a large impact on the music industry from

performance and production to technicians. These are just a few areas within the

industry that gender has an impact on. Examples of this would be only 39% of

musicians are female worldwide. In Nashville, Tennessee only 5% of music

producers are female (Thembj.org, 2021). In an analysis of the top 600 songs from

2012 to 2017 defined by Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 charts for each of those six

years, the study found that of 1,239 performing artists, 22.4 percent of them were

women which would be just over 277 female artists that is roughly just over 46

female artists a year (Sisario, 2021).

CONDUCTORS IN THE INDUSTRY

What is it about the conducting profession that makes it so difficult for women to

ascend to the podium?

Prejudices against women taking a leadership role in classical music can

certainly be found, an example of this would be by the Russian conductor Vasily

Petrenko. According to Petrenko, “orchestras react better when they have a

man conducting in front of them” instead of “a cute girl on a podium” (Higgins,

2013) which would mean male musicians would think about other things that they

wouldn’t think about if a male conductor was in front of them. This has

implications for females who want to be in the conducting industry. This means that

females that want to be in this industry from the beginning will unfortunately face

sexism as the conducting business for years was strictly for men to be in as a

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conductor or musician or even as a spectator. However, the industry is changing with

the times however slow it may be as for the first time in 118 years a female had

conducted the Last Night of the Proms in 2013 (Gompertz, 2013). Marin Alsop who

was the conductor of the 2013 Proms has admitted being "quite shocked that it can

be 2013 and there can still be firsts for women" (Lindrea, 2013).

Aslop has been the musical director of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2007,

and principal conductor of Brazil's Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, she has been

hailed for her bold attempts to make classical music more inclusive as well as defying

boundaries of class, age and gender. In an interview with the BBC about her

opportunity to conduct the Last Night of the Proms she mentioned that her violin

teacher as a child told her “Girls couldn't do that”. Aslop then made one final

comment about what opposition she faced by being a female conductor. “To a

certain degree I have met opposition, spoken or unspoken, I think every woman in a

position of authority will tell you that opposition exists somewhere in the mix because

we're not accustomed as a society to having a female in charge” (Lindrea, 2013).

PRODUCTION

why do female producers work at home or in their own studios?

The producer Grimes suggests that the music industry is a hostile environment for

women and that technology, and the music studio is traditionally seen as the domain

of men (Thembj.org, 2021). But why is this side of the industry mainly male

dominated when we have such amazing female producers such as Sylvia Robinson.

Sylvia Robinson is famous for her breakthrough of producing the first successful rap

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record 42 years ago in the summer of 1979. The album that set Robinson’s career as

the first female producer and the mother of rap music was Rapper’s Delight by The

Sugarhill Gang. This album and Mrs Robinson transformed the street culture of hip-

hop into a commercially viable art form. It was the first rap single to conquer the radio

and the charts, topping Billboard’s R&B tally and reaching No. 37 on the Hot 100 and

also the first to sell over a million. After facing criticism from Hip-Hop’s pioneers for

fabricating The Sugarhill Gang from three wannabe rappers, Robinson filled out her

roster with genuine acts: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Funky 4 + 1,

The Treacherous Three. Within a few years, she had built one of the top independent

labels in America, Sugar Hill Records (Charnas, 2019). Robinson was celebrated as

“the Queen of Rap,” but success did not erase the slighting of her earliest production

work, which included “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” the 1961 hit that earned Ike & Tina

Turner their first Grammy Award nomination. “I paid for the session, taught Tina the

song; that’s me playing guitar,” she said in a 1981 interview with trade

magazine Black Radio Exclusive. Production credit went instead to Sue Records

owner Juggy Murray as at the time producer credits could not go to a female

producer.

ROCK METAL BANDS

Does metal have a sexism problem and if so, does it happen throughout the different

genres within the music industry? Rock and Metal have for some time been male-

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overwhelmed. Of the 17 groups reported for Bloodstock 2018's Main Stage,

Nightwish was the only band to have one female band member (Goodman, 2020).

In the music industry a review distributed by the UK Music Diversity Taskforce in

January 2019 showed that, between the ages of 25-34, ladies represent 54% of the

labour force – however just 33% between ages 45-64 (Goodman, 2020).

Gloria Cavalera is one of the most high-profile women in the history of Metal as the

manager of Sepultura in the early 90s. Her achievements have been looked down on

in the eyes of men who blame her for one of the band members leaving. She has

faced a path of hate mail due to this issue. Gloria has said in an interview that she

has had “her fair share of death threats over something that I never even did”.

(Goodman, 2020). Gloria is not the only female in the rock/metal genre to speak out

about sexism within the industry. There have been may artists/performers who have

criticised people due to their actions or comments. One example of this is from

keyboardist/vocalist Hannah Greenwood from Creeper who when performing one of

their songs heard a man in the crowd shout “hey Hanna you have a nice arse”. later

after the show she put up a post on social media about him and then found out that

the person who shouted this at her was groping other females who were there to just

watch the show. Unfortunately, sexism isn’t just in the Rock Metal styles of music it

can be found in all kinds of music from Death Metal to Classical Music.

LGBTQ+ MUSICIANS

Homophobia in the music industry is an issue that needs to be addressed with many

artists within the industry speaking out about how they felt homophobia is an issue in

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the music industry. An example of this would be when Sam Smith who identifies as

non-binary which is in the LGBTQ+ Spectrum spoke out about how their music

record label were reluctant to share the music video for their massive, danced pop

anthem “How do you Sleep” which saw them doing the choreography in a pair of high

heels. The music label was not comfortable with this due to their feminine

movements (DAMSHENAS, 2021-1). As well as Smith speaking about his

experience a duo called Tegan and Sara have spoken quite a lot about LGBTQ+

issues. When asked if they think the industry has changed over the last 20 years on

the issues of homophobia they replied with “we would not enter this industry without

tools. We have strategies and tools that can compensate for certain things we have

experienced” (DAMSHENAS, 2021-2). Tegan and Sara went on to say that they were

not surprised about the homophobia in the music industry but when they look back it

wasn’t producers or record labels that were homophobic towards them but it was the

press/journalists/radio station and nightclubs. They go on to say “When we tried to

build our own business to survive, it generated a lot of discussion. How to start from

a political perspective? How should we respond? This is one of the biggest

challenges in our 20-year career” (DAMSHENAS, 2021-2).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion it looks like that your gender could affect your role within the

music industry no matter what area you want to work in especially if you are

female or are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Clearly the music industry has

an issue with small minority groups wanting to represent the music industry

which I can understand from a business point of view as it has been going for

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quite a few years now and it does have a reputation to maintain. It is easier to

be stuck in old fashioned opinions rather than move with the times and risk

the music industry’s role within the day-to-day life of our society. However,

the industry does need to move with the times if it wants to stay relevant to

today’s society, stay functioning as a business and stay relevant to the new

generation of the music industry whether they are male, female, non-binary,

a different ethnic group or part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DAMSHENAS, S., 2021-1. Sam Smith says music industry "can be homophobic and

sexist". [online] GAY TIMES. Available at: <https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/sam-

smith-calls-music-industry-homophobic-and-sexist-after-coming-out-as-non-binary/>

[Accessed 19 May 2021].

DAMSHENAS, S., 2021-2. Tegan and Sara on how sexism and homophobia hasn't

changed in the music industry. [online] GAY TIMES. Available at:

<https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/tegan-and-sara-dont-think-the-music-industry-

has-changed-since-their-debut/> [Accessed 19 May 2021].

Gompertz, W., 2013. Female conductor in Prom’s milestone. [online] BBC News.

Available at: (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-22210091)

[Accessed 25 March 2021].

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Assignment code: HBASHRF022

Goodman, E., 2020. Does metal have a sexism problem? | Louder. [online]

Loudersound.com. Available at: <https://www.loudersound.com/features/does-metal-

have-a-sexism-problem> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Higgins, C., 2013. Male conductors are better for orchestras, says Vasily Petrenko.

[online] the Guardian. Available at:

<https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/02/male-conductors-better-

orchestras-vasily-petrenko> [Accessed 23 May 2021].

Sisario, B., 2021. For Women in Music, Equality Remains Out of Reach. [online]

Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/arts/music/music-

industry-gender-study.html> [Accessed 19 May 2021].

Thembj.org. 2021. Gender in the Music Industry – Music Business Journal. [online]

Available at: (http://www.thembj.org/2015/10/gender-inequality-in-the-music-

industry/) [Accessed 25 March 2021].