Music industry gets a D for racial diversity in new Annenberg study

A new Annenberg study paints a damning picture of a music industry that profits from racial diversity but has done a poor job of extending it into the executive suite.

“Inclusion in the Music Business: Gender & Race/Ethnicity Across Executives, Artists & Talent Teams,” is a comprehensive new study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative whose groundbreaking work has chronicled issues of inequality across the music and entertainment industries.

The survey, sponsored by Universal Music Group, examined race, ethnicity, and gender in the executive ranks across the music industry by surveying 4,060 executives across 119 companies and six industry categories.

Two “highlights”

• In the 70 major and independent music companies, only 13.9% of top executives were from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. Of those 4.2% were Black and 13.9% were women.
• Across senior management teams at nine major companies, only 18.8% of executive board members were from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups, 8.5% were Black and 30.8% were women.

The report notes that half of the U.S. population are women, 14% are Black, and 40% identify with an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.

The full report can be downloaded free here.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is also the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor at the Berklee College Of Music online.