Eps 4: Music Industry Misogyny
— Sexism in the Music Tech Industry
| Host image: | StyleGAN neural net |
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| Content creation: | GPT-3.5, |
Host
Jonathan Ruiz
Podcast Content
The music industry has consistently allowed influential artists to circumvent laws that often refer to drug use. Just as predatory men have taken over the acting industry, many male musicians have been given the green light to continue inappropriate and illegal behavior, which often targets aspiring female artists and even fans. Attention has also been drawn to the fact that female artists are often sexualised in order to be as successful as male artists by selling sex.
I agree that owning your own sexuality is empowering, but women should not feel pressured to succeed. Beyonce represents a world where women artists are in control of their own sexuality, and that is empowering. However, when we see women being sexualised in the music industry, something has to be wrong.
In a male-dominated music industry, women are often the shortest route to representation in the media and in many ways in life.
Last year, Los Angeles-based pop band Haim fired back after learning they were paid less than half of what their male counterparts were paid. As the music industry continues to grow, recent studies show that female artists are still not reaping the rewards, both in the United States and overseas. According to a report in the Music Business Journal, record sales in the United States will reach $9.8 billion in 2018, a 12 percent jump from 2017.
Y can't wait to call women "hoes" and discuss violent acts against women, despite the clout of rap and rock music history. Actress and musician Janelle Monae has criticised the misogyny that is rife in the music industry, saying she wants to hear women rap. It's annoying, but it's just the latest in a long line of misogynistic comments about women in music.
It permeates the entire industry, with women working everywhere, from promotion to A & R manager to merit and promotion. Although the music industry signed up to the UK's Equality and Diversity Charter in 2012, there is little sign of progress. Not only do artists suffer from sexist attitudes, but artists continue to let us know that on a human level they don't care what women are.
Emma, 32, works as an A & R for a small label and hopes to find new artists to perform with and promote her career.
Why should it be strange to have a certain way of your music, should it be "strange"? I've never been happier than when I got this job because I'm obsessed with music, "she says.
Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez is just one of many artists who have spoken out against the music industry's obsession with sex, drugs and alcohol. The music world, often associated with a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle, is illustrated by the success of artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and many others. She claims the song was written with Grammy-winning producer David Guetta and her father.
If you look at her songwriting credits, you can see that she has 10 male songwriters and only one female songwriter on her album.
These figures suggest that under-representation of women in the music industry is an issue that is clearly visible on the surface. It seems that the disrespect for women and the lack of representation they face goes much deeper and is probably also partly responsible for the problem of representation at higher levels, but it seems to me that it is such attitudes that perpetuate the problem of sexism within the music industry.
Unfortunately, the disgraced Loyle Carner fan at the concert was not an anomaly, and sexism in the industry often extends to the concert-goers themselves. It also seems that boys and boys often find it hard to admit that they like women artists because of their talent and justify this with their sexualisation.
Loyle Carner was recently praised for kicking a fan out for sexist comments aimed at a female support group. Sweden recently announced that in future only women's festivals will be held so that men can learn to behave and is asking people to attend the festival without fear of their personal safety.
Carner has fought back against this disgusting attitude towards female musicians, but she reminds us that sexism is still rampant in the industry. Even women working in the music scene are confronted with a wealth of misogyny, however different it may be from what female singers themselves experience in their own industry. In a recent interview, she spoke out against the sexism of the music industry, saying women shouldn't have to work as hard as men in the industry and prove something just because they are women.
The Grammys celebrate producers, but never has a woman won the producer of the year award, and even then it doesn't happen very often. There are even six women who have been lucky enough to be nominated, which is proof that it is not enough for their status and fame. A producer must have been the best in her prime before she was recognised for her talent.