Females Need Amplification!
The Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry
Abstract
“If you’re working as a songwriter, an artist manager, an indie label manager or on the board of a peak music body, you’re more likely to be a man than a woman.” Triple J’s Hack reports. (McCormack. 2018.).
Females need some serious amplification in the creative economy of the Australian Music Industry. The information and analysis in this report is verification that the gender inequality is an omnipresent feature of the music industry, showing barriers to Creative and Economic opportunity for women and the male privilege over the money and the power of the Music Industry. This report demonstrates a massive under representation of females producing and creating music, which leads to broader economic, social and political implications. The Music Industry creates enormous revenues and is a major driver of the Australian Creative Economy. “Music Australia estimates music contributes $4 to $6 billion to the Australian economy.” (Music Australia. 2017.). With the gate-keeping roles to the industry predominantly a male dominion, deciding who gets the job, who gets the award and who makes the money…
Glossary of Key Terms
ARIA: Australian Recording Industry Association.
APRA: Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
Diversity: The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration
of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual. (http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html).
Inequality: the condition of being unequal; lack of equality; dis-parity: inequality of size; social or economic disparity: inequality between the rich and the poor; widening income inequality in America; unequal opportunity or treatment resulting from this disparity: inequality in healthcare and education; disparity or relative inadequacy in natural endowments: a startling inequality of intellect, talents, and physical stamina; injustice; partiality; an instance of unevenness. (Dictionary.com. N.d.).
Music Industry: Consists of the companies and individuals that earn money by creating songs, selling live concerts and performances, audio and video recordings, compositions and sheet music, and the professionals, organizations and associations that aid and represent creators (Wikipedia, 2017).
Parity: The state or condition of being equal, especially as regards status or pay; ‘parity of incomes between rural workers and those in industrial occupations’. (Dictionary.com. N.d.).
Introduction
To speak of Australian culture is to recognise our common heritage. It is to say that we share ideas, values, sentiments and traditions, and that we see in all the various manifestations of these what it means to be Australian. Culture, then, concerns identity — the identity of the nation, communities and individuals. We seek to preserve our culture because it is fundamental to our understanding of who we are. It is the name we go by, the house in which we live. Culture is that which gives us a sense of ourselves. Culture, therefore, also concerns self-expression and creativity. (Taylor A, quoted, Keating, P. 2013.).
Almost 25 years ago Prime Minister Paul Keating established the Creative Nation policy, opening with the above sentiments. Currently Australia’s Creative Economy is far from a healthy and vibrant component, reflecting the diversity of Australian society and culture. Gender inequality within the creative industries is extensive, with the spotlight on the music industry as a prime example. The Industry Observer quotes Associate Professor and lead author Rae Cooper, “Whether it be radio play-lists, festival line-ups, industry awards, major industry boards, male artists and voices overwhelmingly dominate the Australian Music Industry. When we look at the gender breakdown for more technical roles such as sound engineering and music production, the gap becomes even wider.” (John, B. 2017.). The magnitude of female creators, producers and engineers in the Australian Music Industry needs some serious amplification.
This case study demonstrates the significant gender inequality and disadvantages for women in the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry. This is an issue for women working or wanting to gain work within the music industry and the entire Australian Culture through broader economic, social and political implications. The Music Industry creates enormous revenues and is a major driver of the Australian Creative Economy. “Music Australia estimates music contributes $4 to $6 billion to the Australian economy.” (Music Australia. 2017.). Sydney Morning Heralds reports, “We are the sixth largest music market in the world in revenue terms ahead of much more populous nations like Canada, South Korea and Brazil, according to the Australian Independent Music Market Report” (Taylor, A. 2017). The Australian Music Industry is a major contributor to the Australian economy. “Australia’s copyright industries generate more value to the Australian economy than manufacturing and health care, recorded music is one of the biggest contributors” (Reid, P. 2016). ARIA has reported a 5.5% growth in the Australian Music Industry revenue from 2015 to 2016, generating $352.2 million. (The Music.com.au. 2016). “Australia’s live contemporary music industry generates revenues of $1.5-$2 billion annually” (Music Australia. 2017). Research shows that audiences travel a significant distance to attend live music, demonstrating the value of Australian music to other industries and regions (Live Music Office. 2015.). The Live Music Office released national research conducted by the University of Tasmania in 2014, stated that Australia’s live music industry is estimated to generate 65,000 jobs, 50 percent of which are full-time. This report also exposed the Live Music Sectors contribution of $15.7 billion in value to the Australian community, providing not only commercial gains, but proved a positive impact to Australian culture and society. (Live Music Office. 2015).
“Our research shows that for every dollar spent on live music, three dollars of benefit is returned to the wider community. This is a significant, and unrecognised, contribution that includes the dollars that flow to the national economy as well as the ways experiencing live music enriches people’s lives” (Dr. Dave Carter & Live Music Office. 2015).
Music is the most common artform used by Australians to engage with their own cultural background, with 32% of young people between 15 and 24 make music and 14% of Australians playing an instrument. (Music Australia. 2016.). A 2014 study by Roy Morgan Research found more Australians attend live music than sport, with 99% of Australians listen to music and attend a music event per year and over 40 million people attending contemporary music performances annually. (Reid, P. 2016). Music is central to our culture and identity and contributes to quality of life for all Australians, music leads to improvement in health, well being, social capital and music is the most common artform used by Australians to engage with their own cultural background. (Music Australia. 2017.). Music not only aids our cultural identities but also our political identities, as a space where Australians can express and contest social constructs, values, and history. Australian classic song ‘The Beds Are Burning’ by Midnight Oil, link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E and modern Australian Indigenous group AB Originals song ‘January 26’, link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ9qeX4gUeo are evidence of this political expression in music.
The importance of music is reflected with the significant level of support that the Australian Government provides to the Music industry through grants, funding, subsidy and sponsorship, along with creating Public policies, including but not limited to economic development; employment and training; international trade; arts and creative industries; education; and regional development. The Australia Council, State governments and local councils across Australia offer further initiatives of funding and support programs for Australian musicians to create, record, distribute and tour their work in Australia and internationally. The Australian Government Department of Communications and the Arts, supports Australian music with $14.6 million in funding via the following initiatives:
· Sounds Australia — helps to develop Australia’s national and international contemporary music industry
· The Live Music Office — works to increase opportunities for live music in Australia by identifying and advocating for better policy, regulation and strategy
· Control — a five-stage intensive program for mid-career music managers delivered by the Australian Music Industry Association with the Association of Artist Managers
· Release — a five-stage intensive program for mid-career record label owners delivered by the Australian Music Industry Association with the Australian Independent Record Labels Association
· SongHubs — songwriting residencies in the Australian region, including Asian locations delivered by the Australasian Performing Right Association
· SongMakers — this program engages mid-career artists and producers professionally as mentors to work in schools with Australia’s emerging songwriters in an intensive ‘real world’ music industry experience on the craft of songwriting, studio production and post-production.
· The Australia Council for the Arts administers the Contemporary Music Touring Program which funds Australian musicians to perform their own work on tour in Australia, with a priority on regional and remote locations” (The Australian Government Department of Communications and the Arts. 2017).
These social, economic and political motives are evidence that music is a major part of the entire Australian Culture. The Australian Music Industry lack in diversity marginalises over half of the Australian population, showing a massive under representation of females producing and creating media and artefacts, let alone indigenous and other minorities, paints the Australian culture as predominantly white and male. The information and analysis in this report is verification that the gender inequality is an omnipresent feature of the Australian music industry, showing barriers to Creative and Economic opportunity for women. The gate-keeping roles to the industry, specifically the key decision-making positions that shape the industry values, norms and practices are prominently a male dominion, deciding who gets the job, who gets the award and who makes the money…
Rationale
This Case Study investigates the gender inequality in the Australian Music Industry, revealing the lack of female creators, producers, engineers and artists on stage, in studio’s and behind mixing desks. Taking into consideration the situation of women in music to aid in identifying the rationale of this unequal gendered playing field. This exploratory case study, written in April 2018, presents and analyses research conducted by RMIT University, in report Australian Women Screen Composers: Career Barriers and Pathways; Triple J’s Hack; and University of Sydney Business School, from report Skipping a Beat. Further exploration will be via the means of content and discourse analysis of media press on gender inequality in the music industry along with other data and statistics to gain an insight into the level of inequality.
This investigation will be conveyed in the two sections; The Money — Creative and Economic Dynamics and The Power — Political Dynamics to illustrate the magnitude of gender-based inequality and the diversity of the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry. This Case Study finalises with an analysis and explores solutions and recommendations to these issues. The appendix contains the online version of the Case Study: Females Need Amplification: The Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry. This Case Study is designed to bring awareness to the gender inequality in the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry and the importance of diversity and inclusivity, economically, socially and politically for the Australia culture.
Implications
The data researched is far from comprehensive and further Quantitive and Qualative research into the positions and experiences of women and other minorities in the Australian Music Industry is needed to understand the totality and severity of the problem.
The Money — Creative and Economic Dynamics
The following section consists of data and analysis on how many women; get paid for creating music in Australia, make festival line-ups, are heard on the radio, get nominated for awards in the music industry. The Australian music industry gains revenues from products, that are created by artists, producers and engineers, comprising of recorded and digital music by means of creative capital, supporting the copyright industry, including music made for Film and Television and live music and touring. (Music Australia. N.d.). What is the economic and career development like for females in the music industry, how many females make money from music in Australia, is there parity of pay between females and men and are females supported at the education level in music and production.
Getting Paid
Triple J’s Hack program completed a study for International Women’s Day into the gender inequality in the Australian music industry finding that only 20% of registered APRA members are female, indicating that women are less likely to get paid royalties for their work. “APRA AMCOS is the body that distributes Australian songwriters with royalties when their songs are played commercially on the radio, or in an ad”. (McCormack. 2018.). This figure is an adequate example of the gender divide, as APRA’s members base consists of over 85,000 registered members, showing the huge presence of male songwriters. (McCormack. 2016.). However things are slowly improving, McCormack states, “The representation of new female members is slowly increasing: in 2017, 26.7 per cent of new songwriters who joined APRA were female. Ten years ago, this figure was only 23.8 per cent.” (McCormack. 2018.). These statistics are displayed in the above graph.
Triple J’s Hack study found that in the past three years only 29% of women list music professional as their job on the Australian census, showing the small percentage of women in the industry, (McCormack. 2018.), and study Skipping a beat found that 27% of composers are women and 33% of musicians, practicing professionally, showing the male significance in over two thirds of the music industry professionals. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, & Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.).
Females are misrepresented in the field of production, engineering and electronic music production, “in the field of music production and engineering, fewer than 5% of all professional producers and engineers are women and, overall, only six females have ever been nominated for best producer at the Brits and Grammys combined; none have won the prize.” (Patel. 2015.). There are so few women in the industry that audio recording associations haven’t bothered to count their number in over 15 years. It will take many more women to consider a career in music production for the gender imbalance to right itself. But changing the perception of behind-the-board roles as the realm of men is also a much-needed step. (Boboltz. 2016). Savage interviews Steve Levine, chairman of the UK’s Music Producers Guild, who says, “I’ve only ever worked with one female studio engineer. Oddly enough, there are a lot of quite powerful, high position females in record companies, less in the technical arena.” (Savage, M. 2012.). Savage also interviewed Susan Rogers, one-time studio engineer for Prince, and associate professor at the Berkley College Of Music in Boston, who states, “It’s a renegade profession, it’s an outlaw profession. Women who want to enter the field face a boys’ club, or a guild mentality.” (Savage, M. 2012.). Rodgers explains technology and music have been considered male domains, deeply rooted in gender stereotyping. (Rodgers. 2010. p, 2.). Women like Daphne Oram, a pioneer in experimental electronic music and music balancer at the BBC, who invented one of the earliest forms of electronic sound synthesis called Oramics and Delia Derbyshire, a heroine of British electronic music, creating the iconic DR Who theme, have gone virtually unrecognised for their contributions to music. (O’Keef. 2017.). The following graph collates data from, Skipping a beat, Triple J Hack and media analysis.
Getting Played
On Australian radio you are more likely to hear music by men than women. Triple J’s Hack analyzed data collected of the top 100 most played songs, across 58 radio stations, over the last ten years from Air-check, a radio monitoring company and found that consistently male artists are favored on the air. Solo or all female acts represent only 28% of the most played songs on Australian radio. Acts with both men and women only represent 10% of the most played songs on Australian radio, illustrated in the above graph. (McCormack. 2018.).
“Triple J play a big role for Australian music, as they’re the only national broadcaster for a young audience.” (McCormack. 2016.).
Spokespersons at Triple J were the first to admit the gender inequality is evident on their airwaves also. “Between 1–7 February this year, 61% of the music was made by all male bands or solo male artists. Only 16% were all female musicians.” (Patel, Z. 2016.). This includes stations Triple J, Double J and Unearthed, though they are improving on last year’s results, which 71% of the albums and artists featured on Triple J as solo male or all male acts. (McCormack. 2016 & 2017.). This information is displayed on the above graph.
Research report, Skipping a Beat records in 2016, Spotify streams see only 21% of the top 100 streamed songs played, were by women with none featured in the top 10. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). ARIA singles charts looked a lot more promising with 57% of ARIA’s top 100 singles of 2016 featuring women, this figure is the same on Apple and iTunes’ ‘Best of 2016’, though these results include, female solo artist, a female lead, or acts with at least one female member. (McCormack 2017). Women do get streaming success in Australia, though these are global superstars from other countries, like Adele and Beyonce. Where is Australia’s female superstar?
Getting Booked
The Australian festival stages have a prominent male presence. Triple J’s Hack reports that, “none of Australia’s major festivals have reached gender parity.” (McCormack. 2018.). The analysis covered 6 of Australia’s music festivals over the last three years. In 2016 Splendor in the Grass had 74% male only acts, Falls was similar, Groovin in the Moo had 79%, Laneway had 62% with Days Like This and Spilt Milk having 100% male acts and Listen Out and Stereosonic only had 10% female acts on stage, finding the EDM predominate festivals with the less diversity on the line-ups. Improvements are seen across the board with Laneway being Australia’s most gender diverse festival, with 44% female identifying acts in 2018. (McCormack. 2018.). These figures are represented on the above graph.
McCabe interviews female artists Katie Noonan, KLP and their manager Jesse Flavell. Flavell explains.
“Promoters should proactively add more women to their bills. This is a cultural issue globally but the music industry has a very visible platform from which to address gender equality. The talent is there, more than ever in this country and it’s the role of the gatekeepers in this industry to showcase that amazing talent. The promoters, the music programmers at radio, the labels all need to check themselves because the industry is still largely a boys’ club.” Katie Noonan and KLP emphasise, “it is imperative male promoters have a good hard think about the female representation on their stages. Established women commanding the main stage act as aspirational role models to young festival goers aspiring to a career in music while emerging artists get an invaluable platform to impress new fans. (McCabe, K. 2016.).
Female Pressure compiled research over the last five years from festivals globally with results of gender inequality similar to Australian music festivals. “In our present survey, assessing festivals acts from 2015 to mid-year 2017, we found that 15% of all acts were female while while 78% were male. We saw that, although the rate of female acts rose slightly over the years, there is still an enormous gap between female and male artists appearing on stage.” (Female Pressure. 2017.). These results are illustrated in the above and following graphs.
Getting Gongs
Skipping a Beat reports that, “Female music artists receive fewer accolades than their male peers, with no female artist ever receiving the number 1 spot.” (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). Only 20 female artists have featured in the Triple J’s Hottest 100 list out of the 367 artists featured, though for the past two years, 55% of the featured acts have at least one female artist, though none of these songs made it to the top 10. (McCormack. 2018.). These statistics are represented above.
Hack observed ARIA awards worse with, “only 1 in 3 nominations for ARIA awards in 2015 were for a solo female musician, or a band with at least one woman in it.” (McCormack. 2018.). This is also evident in the ARIA hall of fame with 86% of inductees as male. (McCormack. 2018.). Skipping a Beat observed that, “the Australian Independent Records Association (AIR) awards have been dominated by male winners: only 22 awards have been won by acts with a female lead, or equal numbers of women and men, out of a total of 103 awards.” (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). The APRA nominations have the most gender parity with 46% of nominations going to female solo artists or acts with at least one female member. These results are illustrated in the above graph.
Hack interviewed 4-time ARIA award winner, 2015 J Award winner and Grammy nominee Courtney Barnett, who says “the industry tends to favour men over women. I feel like people are extra harsh or critical of female artists.” (McCormack. 2018.).
Economic and Career Development
Receiving career success for females in the Australian Music Industry is problematic. Hack discovered gender parity in the earnings of APRA members, though not a pay gap between genders. Some song genres are more lucrative than others leading to larger royalties. In 2017 female APRA members made $0.77 for every dollar made by males, that’s 23% less, showing that male songwriters are likely to work in more lucrative sectors of the industry, for example composing for film and TV where the songs gain high rotation. Thankfully this problem over the past ten years has become better; in 2008 female APRA members only made $0.50 to every dollar made by males. (McCormack. 2018.). This increase is seen in the above graph.
These results can be seen across all professions with disparity between male and female incomes in Australia. The Conversation provides a snapshot of Australian society by income, gender and work. There has been an increase in disparity between male and female income from 20% difference in 2002 to 31% difference in 2016. (O’Hara, D. Jeyaratnam, E. Westerman, H. & Mountain, W. 2016.).
“The gender inequality issue is clouded by research. I didn’t think it would be that bad, but I also didn’t think there would be a lack of information out there to find out why. The disparity between men and women in the industry is particularly perplexing — when the disparity tends to be the opposite among girls and boys up to year 12, there seems to be a greater representation of women in music.” APRA AMOCS Director and Member Relations, Milly Petriella explains to Hack. (McCormack 2016.).
Hack’s investigation found in 2017 that females representing 54% of high school music students and 47% of undergraduate music students, showing that the idea of females not wanting to pursue a career in music a fallacy. (McCormack 2018.). This information is displayed above.
For some reason this changes once women hit the workforce with similar results as students enrolled in sound technology courses. “Performing Arts say only 6% of the students enrolled on its sound technology course are female. That figure hasn’t changed for three years.” (Savage, M. 2012.). In 2015 the organization Women in Sound Women on Sound was created as a series of workshops to inspire teenage girls into music technology. A representative of the association noted that, “Girls move away from technology in high school. The outcome is, the creative field becomes dominated by male practitioners, male lecturers and male authors, meaning girls don’t have role models or people they see representing them. Seeing women teaching you about any area of technology won’t be a rare event, it might even become part of the norm in education.” (O’Keef. 2017.).
Promisingly Music Grants have had increases in the number of women receiving music grants. Hack reports in 2017 there was a 15% increase from the previous year with the Australian Council for the Arts giving 53% of their grants to female creators. (McCormack. 2018.). These statistics are illustrated above.
Gender seems to be a barrier to women gaining ‘The Money’ in the industry, resulting in a lack of diversity on the stage, on radio, gaining awards and in the recording studio. Research report, Australian Women Screen Composers: Career Barriers and Pathways, by RMIT found evidence of this barrier.
“While both men and women believed the industry was dominated by men, women were far more likely than men to believe that their gender had a negative effect on their careers, women were also far more likely to agree that they took longer to establish their career because of their gender, that they find it harder to get jobs because of their gender, and that they are treated differently because of their gender. Women were more likely to see education as necessary in establishing a career in screen composition, women may need more formal qualifications than men to be hired for the same jobs. Female respondents reported that child-care responsibilities constituted a barrier to career progression, some identified having children as the point at which their career ended, others as the point where it went backwards, no men reported these types of outcomes.” (Cannizzo & Strong. 2017.).
In the following section we investigate the political dynamics or ‘The Power’ to see where the Australian music industries values, norms and practices are shaped in this prominently male dominion.
The Power — Political Dynamics
The gender inequality issues with the Australian Music Industry may reside with male holding dominion in the gate-keeping roles at the entry point to the industry. In this section we investigate who has ‘The Power’ in the music industry, by investigating the political dynamics, therefore who makes the decisions.
Artist Managers
Artist managers are responsible for the careers of artists, liaising with the record companies, music publishers, promoters, agents, and sponsors. Skipping a Beat reports that “The Association of Artist Managers (AAM) is the peak body for leading music managers in Australia who manage some of Australia’s most successful artists. 6 of the 10 directors on the AAM board are men.” (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). This information is displayed on the above graph.
Females in Key Positions Australian Record Label’s
Hack interviews Jane Slingo, the executive producer of the Electronic Music Conference, who says that the lack of female A&R’s working at record labels, talent scouting and developing artists may be part of the problem as these are the people who give artist the big break. (McCormack. 2016.). She explains.
“There’s a severe lack of female A&Rs. In Australia I can pretty much count on three fingers female A&Rs, and I think that’s something that’s kind of mirrored in a pattern internationally. I think if we start to see more females taking that role, surely there will be more of a focus and investment in developing female recording artists. I think managers, agents; everyone has a role to play in this issue. I think it’s not something that we can kind of just point at awards nights or festival bookers. Because it’s a massive issue and it’s not going to change unless everyone’s on board and working hard as a community to change it.” (McCormack. 2016.).
Report Skipping a Beat found that women hold only 28% of senior roles including label managers and A&R roles, and the Australian Independent Labels only have 23% of women as label managers. At AIR 33% of women hold senior leadership positions though no females hold Director positions on the nine-member boards, however women are well represented in junior roles, holding 58% of representation in Australia’s key industry bodies. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). Surprisingly, Triple J, Double J and Triple J Unearthed have 47% of women in senior leadership roles. (McCormack. 2018.). Observation of this information shows that women are more likely in administration and reception roles. The Industry Observer interviews Professor Cooper author of Skipping a Beat, who explains that women have barriers to moving up the industry ladder and out of administration and reception roles. Professor Cooper states. “Women in the music industry are not only confronted with the ‘glass ceiling’, but also ‘glass walls’, where women congregate in occupations and sectors where the majority of employees are women.” (John, B. 2017.). Though on a positive note, the Industry Observer reports in Australia, women are killing it in the music tech industry including; Jane Huxely, Ex-Managing Director at Pandora Australia and New Zealand; Kate Bradley and Liz Thomas, founders of Everywhere Roadie; Jennie Sager, Head of Entertainment at Twitter; Jacqui Louez Schoorl, CEO and Co-Founder of Jaxsta; Pia Del Mastro, Director at My Electronic Music and Artist Manager at One Plus One Agency; and Kate Vale, Managing Director at Spotify Australia and New Zealand. (Reid, P. 2017.).
The male dominance over corporate leadership positions can be seen globally across most industries. “White Men Account for 72% of Corporate Leadership at 16 of the Fortune 500 Companies”. (Jones, S. 2017.). Professor Cooper, author of Skipping a Beat, states. “We know from international research that organisations and industries with gender diversity at the senior leadership level perform better not only in terms of connecting with their customers but with business innovation.” (John, B. 2017.). Considering that the customer base for the music industry is inclusive for all genders, the whole industry would therefore benefit from gender diversity within the creative economy.
Public Board Members
Triple J’s Hack investigation discovered that men hold 83% of board positions in the four peak music industry bodies. (McCormack.2018.).
Report Skipping a Beat explains that women’s membership of boards of peak national bodies is important as they representing the industry’s commercial interests. ARIA is the leading peak body for the recording music sector, responsible for industry and policy advocacy, publisher of the ARIA charts and event the ARIA music awards. ARIA have no women on their boards and in the ARIA board’s history, only two women have served as directors. APRA, AMCOS, PPCA and AMPAL are the four-peak industry bodies responsible for the music-publishing sector. These four peak bodies have 47 directors across the four boards; 29 people hold these positions with 83% of these positions held by men.
“Of the five women holding board positions in the music publishing sector, only one is a director on more than one board. In contrast, 14 men sit on more than one board.” (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). The LPA is the peak industry body responsible for the Live music sector, showing the most male domination across its board of members with 100% being male. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). This information is represented in the above graph.
APRA teamed with RMIT University in undertaking the research, Australian Women Screen Composers: Career Barriers and Pathways, assessing the gap in the gender inequality within the music industry, and are putting forward the following initiatives to aid the situation.
We have implemented initiatives and programs to help develop and advance women within our own organisation, and we’ve implemented a 40/40/20 measure on membership programs, which will see an increase in women within our programs and initiatives including the Ambassador program, SongHubs, SongMakers and Professional Development Awards, as well as judges, presenters and performers at our Awards series. At least 40% of our national event series panellists will be female, and we’ll also address female representation in terms of topics specific to their career development. (APRA. 217.).
Skipping a Beat found that State and Federal music industry associations have a better gender balance across their boards, with women holding 41% of all board or management committee positions. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.). This information is displayed in the following graph.
Powerful people of the Australian Music Industry
To identify some of those in power and their positions gives a wider perspective of the individuals that have power and control in the Australian Music Industry. The Australian Music Directory, AMID has ranked the 50 most powerful people in the Australian Music Industry since 2012. (The Music.com.au. 2016). Report skipping a Beat found.
The top ten on this list represent the most powerful people in the Australian music industry in key gatekeeper roles — distributors, record labels, promoters and market/export development executives. Analysis of the past five years reveals that that since its inception, the top ten has been overwhelmingly male, with women making up roughly one quarter of the ‘powerful people’. Analysis of ‘repeat performances’ in the Power 50 top ten reveals the entrenched position of men: 10 of the 17 men have appeared on the list more than once, and several have appeared most or all years. (Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.).
Mushroom Group’s Michael Gudinski was announced as the most powerful figure in 2016, while a number of prominent names also featured from record companies to artist managers and even journalists including:
· Ben Turnbull — Director of Staple Group
· Brett Cottle — APRA | AMCOS
· Colin Daniels — CEO of Inertia Group
· Damian Costin — Director/Agent of 123 Agency
· Dan Rosen — Chief Executive Officer at ARIA & PPCA
· Ian James — Managing Director of Mushroom Music Publishing
· Jamie Gough/Matt Tanner — General Manager/ A&R/Creative Manager of Native Tongue Publishing
· Johann Ponniah — I OH YOU Founder
· Maggie Collins — BIGSOUND Programmer, Manager and Broadcaster
· Mardi Caught — Warner Music Australia
· Millie Millgate — Director of Sounds Australia
· Sebastian Chase — MGM Distribution
· Tony Harlow — Warner Music Australia
(The Music.com.au. 2016).
This is evidence of male privilege and dominance with the political dynamics or ‘The Power’ of the Australian Music Industry, holding most of the key stakeholder positions. There are more men than women on public boards for music organisations, managing artists, and managing independent record labels and the few that are there perpetuates tokenization.
Conclusion
The gender inequality in the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry is evident in this case study. ‘The Power’ of the industry is dominated by the male gender in the key decision making roles, which structure the industries values, norms and behaviors. This leads to the inequality against women by women’s voices not being heard in the boardroom, on the radio or on stage, leading to the inequality with ‘The Money’ and women’s under-represented in music creation, creating a parity in sales, streaming and awards for females. Women suffer social implications with gender as a barrier to their career in music. “Women’s success is hindered by broader social norms which prescribe particular gender roles and influence the kinds of opportunities afforded to men and women at each stage of their musical and career development.” (Patel, Z. 2016.). Due to this females feel they need to gain more qualifications to gain access to the industry and may have their career end due to parenting responsibilities. Females that do make it in the industry have to put up with discrimination, “Female screen music composers described feeling excluded because of their gender in relation to their treatment in workplaces, concerns with self-presentation, access to professional networks and studio culture or ‘the boys’ club’.” (Cannizzo & Strong. 2017.). These industry specific components have forged the circumstances for the gender inequalities in the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry. Following are recommendations on ‘Closing the Gap’ to these inequalities.
Closing The Gap — Recommendations
From analysis of the information I would recommend female representation in the technical areas of music production in education to inspire women into these areas, support on gender inequality from the gate-keepers and males in the industry, and for women to believe in themselves to breakdown the industry and societies preoccupation with old archetypes. The Australian Music Industry could aid in creating change by promoting initiatives into gender inequality similar to those from Screen NSW.
The NSW screen industry is now on track to achieve gender parity across overall numbers in director, writer and producer roles by the end of the 2016/17 financial year. Across all genres and formats, female directors are attached to 46% of projects funded (up from 28%), female writers are sitting at 48% (up from 30%) and female producers are at 67% (up from 56%). Just 12 months after Screen NSW announced its 50:50 by 2020 Gender Target for female writers, producers and directors. What this shows is that clear action and determination can swiftly change participation by under-represented groups in our industry. (Screen NSW. 2017.).
Most of the analysis consisted from research reports Skipping a Beat and Australian Women Screen Composers: Career Barriers and Pathways, so I have included their recommendations as follows. The authors of Skipping a Beat have made 5 key recommendations, “to begin the process of addressing the Australian music industry’s chronic gender inequality:”
· Collect more and better data on the music industry on a gender disaggregated basis
· Establish a well-resourced independent gender equality industry advocacy body
· Use gender equality criteria in deciding public funding outcomes
· Increase women’s representation in decision-making structures
· Address gender bias in the Australian music industry by prioritising inclusivity and representation as core industry values (for example through funding and implementing training programs).
(Cooper, R, Coles, A, and Hanna-Osborne, S. 2017.).
The authors of Australian Women Screen Composers: Career Barriers and Pathways have made the following 5 key recommendations:
· Engage Men in Equity Initiatives
· Create Networking and Partnership Opportunities
· Spotlight Female Role Models
· Help Girls to Engage with Music Technology
· Ongoing Research in Women and Music-Making
(Cannizzo & Strong. 2017.).
The magnitude of female creators, producers and engineers in the Australian Music Industry needs some serious amplification! This Case Study has revealed the circumstances of gender-based inequality in the Creative Economy of the Australian Music Industry and expressed recommendations for change, demonstrating the importance of diversity and inclusivity. “Inclusive, representative music industries are the foundation of a rich and diverse music landscape, the Australian music industry must catch up to the changes happening across the creative industries more generally.” (Coles, Dr A quoted by John, B. 2017.). It is imperative for the Australia Music Industry, to reflect and support our national community, culturally, socially and politically.
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Graph and Infographic References:
McCormack, Ange. (March 8, 2018.). ABC hack: By the numbers 2018: The gender gap in the Australian music industry [Research Article]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/by-the-numbers-2018/9524084
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Cooper, Associate Professor Rae, Coles, Dr Amanda and Hanna-Osborne, Sally. (2017.). Skipping a beat: Assessing the state of gender equality in the Australian music industry [Research Report]. University of Sydney: Business School. Sydney: Australia.
Title Page Image References:
McCormack, Ange. (March 8, 2018.). ABC hack: By the numbers 2018: The gender gap in the Australian music industry [Research Article]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/by-the-numbers-2018/9524084
