Music’s problem with unconscious bias and what you can do to change it
Ahead of Skiddle’s panel with Shesaid.so at this year’s Brighton Music Conference, Skiddle’s Angie Bhandal addresses unconscious bias in music, and how we can counteract this to make strides in the right direction.
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know what unconscious bias was until I was looking for my job in the music industry. I was coming from a traditional corporate marketing background and I was hit with the terms ‘unconscious bias’ again and again. “People in the creative industries have an unconscious bias about the corporate world”, I was told. This basically meant I should be as far removed from the word ‘corporate’ as possible, all while remaining professional (still confuses me, but that’s for another day).
There’s so many different ways that unconscious bias works, and it’s not just limited if you’re ‘too corporate’ or not. Implicit or unconscious bias is typically a type of bias that is based on age, race, education level and stereotypes. The most prevalent is that of race. An obvious example could be a hiring manager giving someone a job who looks like them. Unfortunately these unconscious biases are something that trickles down from the workplace into other spaces in the music industry.
In an article with Attack Magazine, BAME promoters shared their struggles with being excluded from music spaces. Several of these promoters noted that they weren’t offered opportunities due to being seen as an outsider, causing them to start their own events. According to Attack,
BAME people are three times more likely ejected from a venue than their white counterparts.
Instead of being involved in these spaces, BAME promoters often have to start their own nights because they’re not being offered the same opportunities as other promoters.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, more individuals in the music industry have started speaking out about their experiences in an attempt to raise awareness and encourage change. One such individual is trailblazer Keith Harris OBE, who worked at Motown Records with Stevie Wonder. Harris talks to Brighter Sound about his experiences navigating racism in the 80s and how he had to force his way into the mainstream. A wonderful first-hand experience of the stigmas within the recording industry; one that’s considered traditionally notorious to break into and has been countlessly labelled a ‘big boys club’.
According to UK Music’s 2018 diversity workforce report, BAME representation among workers in the music industry increased from 10% to 11.4% of the whole workforce, but the figure is still below the 12.8% representation for the UK as a whole. Thanks to organisations such as UK Music and others, companies and individuals within the music space are being encouraged to focus much harder on diversity and what they can do to champion this within the music industry.
We’re certainly making steps in the right direction and companies are being proactive in hiring fairly. However, before events make a full return, we should use this opportunity to make sure this is encouraged in other spaces, more specifically the electronic space. Promoters/DJs are often working for themselves, which means it’s easy to be incentivised by easy profits rather than making sure line-ups are diverse. Many see it as something for the ‘social justice warriors’ and therefore not something they should be focussing on. So just how can we encourage all individuals within the music industry to take a stand? How can we encourage equality without falling victim to tokenism?
All will be discussed in our upcoming BMC panel!
Skiddle’s Georgia Roberts will be chairing a panel on ‘Raving, Race and Responsibility’ with Charlotte Caleb (CSquaredLDN, shesaid.so), Niks Delanancy (Black Bandcamp), Ranen Ekubia (event, culture and music specialist) and Stephen Braines (He She They, The Weird + The Wonderful).
Tickets for this virtual panel are available via Skiddle.
About Skiddle
Skiddle is currently the UK’s biggest What’s On guide, providing a free facility for event promoters across the UK to list their events online and sell tickets through our independent ticketing service. We currently work with over 35,000 UK and European promoters, at over 30,000 venues. We specialise in helping events through that critical growing phase by providing the marketing and technology support that you need. Start listing your events today!
