Aswad, Jem. “Women in Music Industry Still Face ‘Prevalent’ Discrimination,
Underpayment and Under-Recognition: ‘Women in the Mix’ Study.” Variety, 8
Mar. 2022, variety.com/2022/music/news/
women-music-industry-discrimination-study-1235198396/. Accessed 28 Mar.
2022.
This text pertains to the “Women in the Mix” study from The Recording Academy, Berklee College of Music and Arizona State University. The report is designed to understand and examine the experiences of “women and gender-expansive people” working in the music industry. For the most part, the text summarizes the main findings of the study. It also talks about how the study has influenced change from companies and executives, particularly The Recording Academy, who have been made aware of the findings from the report.
This article is simply a summary of a report, so it is meant to communicate complex and in depth findings and make them easily digestible for the common reader. Most of the findings are written in bullet points to break up the dense amounts of information. And the sections of information including the findings, the data collection methods, and the changes made in response are all clearly separated and in very different parts of the article.
This text directly relates to the subject of my senior project of gender equity in the music industry. This article clearly summarizes the current state of gender in music and makes it readily accessible to anyone who may want to learn about it.
Perez, Desiree. “3 Ways Leaders Can Address Gender Inequality in the Music
Industry.” Rolling Stone, 3 Nov. 2021, www.rollingstone.com/culture-council/
articles/leaders-address-gender-inequality-music-industry-1252067/.
Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
This text, an op-ed from the CEO of Roc Nation for Rolling Stone shares three possible ways which leaders can make the music industry more equitable. The article consists of Perez laying out three changes which music executives can consciously choose to make in order to benefit the industry as a whole. The changes include, creating and clearing pathways and opportunities to leadership roles for women, encouraging mentorship to support women already in the field, and starting open conversations that address issues of sexual harrasment and ageism.
The article is an op-ed, so it is a personal opinion written for a magazine. It is clearly organized with bold headlines to separate each change which can be made. It is a relatively short article but it does a good job of conveying the issues within the industry and changes which can be made in pretty layman’s terms. It is definitely an article which is very important and something that music executives should definitely be reading and learning from.
Just like the first article this is directly related to my project’s topic of women in the music industry, however unlike the last article this focuses more on action as opposed to statistics.
Brereton, Greta. “Gender equality in the music industry: where do we stand and
what needs to change?” Beat Australia, 3 June 2020, beat.com.au/
gender-equality-in-the-music-industry-where-do-we-stand-and-what-needs-to-change/
. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
This text is an article written for Beat, an Australian music magazine. It goes over the issue of gender equity within the music industry, and then segues into changes that have been made and what still needs to be done. It begins with discussing studies done and uses visual examples like videos, graphs, and social media posts to further the arguments made. I think that it communicates its point very clearly and in an organized fashion.
The structure of the article is different from the other texts I have read so far. The different sections of the articles are less clearly marked, however it is definitely separated into different subjects. It makes the piece read more cohesively and as one article, however it is still very organized.
This article once again directly relates to my senior project as it cohesively tackles ideas related to gender equity in the music industry and changes that have to be made in order to create equality.
Claire, Marie. “How #MeToo shows that we need to acknowledge sexism in the music
industry too.” Marie Claire UK, 9 Sept. 2019, www.marieclaire.co.uk/reports/
music-industry-sexism-426585. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
This text is an article written for Marie Claire UK by Marie Claire herself. It examines sexism in the music industry in a different context than the other texts I have selected as it discusses the #MeToo movement and its effects on the industry. The article uses examples of different female artists who have made public allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against music executives. The article uses these examples to analyze the systemic sexism in the music industry, beyond just sexual misconduct and makes a commentary about changes which need to be made.
The format of the article is pretty typical. It begins with a main example and uses that example to prove a larger point and segue into other examples, perhaps lesser known, of sexist acts women experience while working in music. Some quotes are in larger bold text in order to emphasize their importance, but for the most part it simply reads like an essay.
Once again this directly ties into my project’s examination of women and sexism in the music industry, however it adds a perspective on the issue of sexual misconduct and the #MeToo movement.
Wang, Amy X. “Here’s How Overwhelmingly Male the Music Industry (Still) Is.”
Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2020, www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/
heres-how-overwhelmingly-male-the-music-industry-still-is-940255/. Accessed
28 Mar. 2022.
The final article I selected is a piece from Rolling Stone Magazine analyzing the findings from USC Annenberg’s 2020 report on the music industry. The report showed an uptick in female representation in the music industry, however the increase was slight, and something that surely needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The article discusses many statistics and what they mean in relation to the music industry as a whole. It talks a lot about how the increase in representation from women which is represented in the report is also represented in the increase in females nominated for Grammy awards.
This article is relatively short and condensed and uses a lot of statistics in the writing to demonstrate a point. The statistics are extremely beneficial to proving the point though it can sometimes become a bit convoluted. However, like many of the other articles I have studied, the statistics are used as an example at the beginning of the piece, and then it becomes an analysis of what the statistics mean to the industry as a whole and progress that has been made.
Finally, just like the other articles I have chosen, this text ties directly into my project discussing the statistics pertaining to female representation in the music industry and what work still needs to be done.