“Lives ruined”, “careers destroyed by men who have never had to face the consequences of their actions”… A British parliamentary report unveiled this Tuesday denounces widespread misogyny and sexual assault in the music industry.
The problem concerns many countries and has been known for several years, underlines the document from the Westminster Commission for Women and Equality.
If the year 2023 saw female artists rise to the top of the music sales charts in the United Kingdom like never before, the success of stars like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift or RAYE masks a darker reality.
Women “represent less than a third of best-selling artists and only 14% of title authors,” the report points out.
📗 Our report on misogyny in music has been published.
🎵 The report looks at misogynistic attitudes in the industry and how these attitudes impact on the wider society.
Read our recommendations: https://t.co/8slIimRPTy#MisogynyInMusic #MusicIndustry
— Women & Equalities Committee (@Commonswomequ) January 30, 2024
The under-representation of female artists is everywhere according to the report: in positions of responsibility but also among artists signing with major record labels, in radio broadcasts or streaming, festival headliners or artists selected for the most prestigious awards.
Britain's biggest music festival, Glastonbury, was notably criticized last year for only having male headliners, and having had only five women as stars on its famous stages over the past twenty years.
For this year, organizer Emily Eavis raised the possibility of two female headliners, with the British press talking about Dua Lipa and Madonna.
Discrimination in music schools
The document also singles out music schools where women who play instruments considered “masculine” such as the trumpet or drums are already judged more harshly than their male counterparts.
In orchestral choirs too, women are the subject of mockery “on the intelligence or abilities of sopranos” while other studies have shown endemic questioning of the abilities of women musicians compared to their male colleagues. .
This phenomenon, which includes racial discrimination, has given rise to the implementation of blind auditions in certain major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic in the United States.
Also read#MeToo: and now, the music industry’s turn
The list of problems denounced in this report, based on individual interviews and more targeted preliminary investigations, is long, ranging from salary inequalities to systematic belittling, not to mention the constant pressure on the physique of women artists.
The Black Lives in Music association says that, according to its data, black women are the most disadvantaged in the music industry and are regularly objectified and underpaid compared to women and especially white men.
Many countries concerned
In addition to discrimination in employment, women are particularly exposed to harassment and sexual assault, while the sector employs many precarious independent workers.
“The nature of many workplaces,” late at night, in places where alcohol or even drugs are everywhere, while artists go on tour and sleep in hotels, can make women vulnerable to sexual assault even rape.
The report also points out, as in the #MeToo movement which highlighted sexual assault in cinema, the fact that abuse is often covered up by confidentiality agreements which protect the perpetrators of attacks, some of whom, according to the report, are well-known personalities.
Also readSexual assault: how MusicToo broke the silence in the recording industry
In 2018, in her autobiography, British singer Lily Allen described the way in which she had been mistreated by the tabloid press, who had harassed her, particularly regarding her appearance.
She also said she had been the subject of sexual assault by a record label executive, without naming him, claiming that this type of abuse was common in the sector.
In France, after cinema, music has also been affected by a phenomenon of freeing the speech of victims of sexual harassment or assault, particularly under the banner #MusicToo.
Christine & The Queens, Pomme… Many French artists had called in 2021 to clean up the recording world.