Study to assess gender and ethnicity diversity in UK music biz

The UK Music Diversity Taskforce, set up last September by the UK Music trade organisation, has launched its first industry-wide workforce diversity survey to discover how bad the problem is.

Although the UK industry champions and exports a wide range of artists that reflects the country’s multi-cultural society, there is a distinct lack of female, black and ethnic faces in senior executive positions.

The survey aims to gain an accurate snapshot of diversity in the workplace, with an initial focus on gender and ethnicity. It is set for release later this year, and will be updated over the years.

It has the backing of the entire spectrum of the UK music industry. The taskforce has representatives from record labels, publishers, trade organisations, collecting societies and the live music industry.

Keith Harris MBE, Chair of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, observed: “It is important that the music industry is in the vanguard of the creative industries when it comes to equality and diversity, so that we can make the most of the benefits of having such a diverse society, which has served Britain so well in the past.”

Jo Dipple, CEO of UK Music, added: “The economic and cultural success of British music over the last couple of years has been astronomical. For us to continue such success we need a strong entry-point pipeline of diverse talent as well as career progression and a diverse management at the top. It seems obvious, but businesses with boards which properly reflect the public and the consumer do better than businesses with boards that do not.”

There is very little up to date and accurate data on the issue. But in 2011, campaigning organization Creative & Cultural Skills’ report Music Blueprint revealed that 93% of music industry executives were white, and 61% were male.

A 2015 report by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport found that black, Asian and minority ethnic workers made up only 11% of the music industry.

In May this year, a survey of the UK classical music sector found that of composers commissioned to write new works, only 21% are female, compared to 51% of the UK population and 36% of all composition students in UK universities.

Only 6% were Black or Minority Ethnic (BAME). The BAME sector makes up 14% of the UK population. The figure is worsened by the fact that just over half the commissioned composers are based in London, which has a BAME population of 30%.

A September 2015 survey developed by the arts organisation Create – in collaboration with Goldsmiths, University of London, the London School of Economics and the University of Sheffield – indicated that jobs in the cultural sector went to privileged whites. Only 18% had parents from a working class background.