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Sony Music Entertainment is suing the producers of the 2022 biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, accusing them of failing to pay for the more than 20 Whitney tracks that appeared in the movie.
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In a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York federal court, Sony claims that Anthem Films, Black Label Media and others behind the movie signed deals for sync licenses to feature songs like “I Will Always Love You” in the movie – but that more than a year after the film was released, the label hasn’t been paid a dime.
“To date, Anthem has not paid the fees, or any portion of the fees, due under the agreements,” Sony’s lawyer, Christine Lepera of the firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, wrote in the complaint. As a result, the Sony says the use of the songs amounts to “willful and deliberate infringement” of its copyrights.
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Riding a wave of enthusiasm for musical biopics – 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” earned more $900 million at the box office and Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 “Elvis” made $288 million – “I Wanna Dance” was released in December 2022 to middling reviews and an underwhelming return of $59.8 million gross.
According to Thursday’s lawsuit, Anthem and others signed a sync license agreement on Dec. 5, 2022 – less than ten days before the movie’s release – covering the use of Sony’s sound recordings of Houston’s songs, including “Greatest Love of All,” “I’m Every Woman” and the titular “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
“Unlike other types of films, musical biopics by their nature require use of the subject musician’s music, as it is nearly impossible to explain the importance of a musician’s creative genius or unique style and talent without the use of the musician’s music,” Sony wrote. “Aware of the need for authorization to use Plaintiffs’ sound recordings in order to produce a biopic about the life and music of Whitney Houston, and aware of the value of plaintiffs’ catalog, Anthem entered into a license agreement.”
But by August, Sony says it had not been paid anything. After notifying Anthem of the problem, the company allegedly told Sony that it was waiting on funds from a tax credit owed by the state of Massachusetts. But such a payment never came, Sony says.
“As a result of Anthem’s failure to pay the fees to SME, it is clear that there was no license or authorization to use the SME Recordings used in the Film,” the company’s attorneys wrote. “Nevertheless, the Film embodying the SME Recordings was, and continues to be, exhibited, distributed, and exploited.”
As defendants, the lawsuit names Anthem Films, a Boston-area film production company that allegedly produced the movie; NYBO Productions LLC, the entity that allegedly owns the copyright to the movie; Black Label Media, a Los Angeles film finance company; and WH Movie LLC, an entity allegedly created by Black Label to help finance the movie.
According to the lawsuit, the complex corporate structure behind “I Wanna Dance” potentially played into the lack of payment.
Though Sony says it notified Anthem that it was open to waiting for for the Massachusetts tax credit to be paid out, it demanded that such an agreement be formalized in writing. Anthem allegedly refused, saying that Black Label had “approval rights over Anthem’s and NYBO’s expenditures” and ultimately “ordered that Anthem neither pay SME out of the proceeds of the tax credit payment nor direct the relevant tax authority to credit SME the amount of the Fees.”
In technical legal terms, the lawsuit accused Anthem and NYBO of direct copyright infringement, while it accused Black Label and WH Movie of so-called vicarious copyright infringement – meaning they had some control over Anthem and profited from its alleged wrongdoing.
The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Sony Music did not return a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Sony Music Nashville has launched a non-country imprint, First Flight Records, with singer-songwriters Darren Kiely and Ben Goldsmith. Though the company is only announcing the label now, it’s already experiencing success with pop/folk artist Kiely, whose song “Sunrise,” hit No. 1 on the Irish Homegrown chart.
Kiely’s No. 1 in Ireland “signifies what I want this to become in scope and scale,” Sony Nashville chairman/CEO Randy Goodman tells Billboard. “What I hope this will be for us is a significant global proposition as well.”
The genesis of the label started when SMN A&R manager Nathan Thomas was greatly impressed after seeing the 17 year-old Long Island native Goldsmith perform in Nashville. Goldsmith then came to the office and “He goes from guitar to piano, he sings his ass off. He’s writing songs that sound like they could be on Elton John’s Madman Across the Water but with a very current feel,” Goodman says. “It was one of those things where we don’t really know what to do with this, but we felt like it was important and we all wanted to be involved with it.”
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Then the A&R staff discovered Irish artist Kiely, who had moved to Nashville via New York, via a video online. As his music began to resonate in his native country and the U.S., Kiely , who was influenced by acts like The Lumineers and Mumford & Sons, signed with UTA and is now on a headlining U.S. club tour in support of his Lost EP. That set’s “Mom & Dad” has landed in the top 5 of the Irish Homegrown chart.
Though the first two signings are folk-tinged singer/songwriters, Taylor Lindsey, Sony Nashville’s senior vp of A&R, stresses that the remit for the label is simply to sign artists and authentic storytellers who are “not country…If it made sense and an artist walked in here who was a hip-hop artist or a true pop artist, we wouldn’t take those off the table.”
Releases will be tagged Free Flight/Sony Music Entertainment, not Free Flight/Sony Music Nashville, to reinforce that Free Flight is not a country label. “When people think of Sony Music Nashville, they think of country, obviously,” Lindsey says. “But these artists are not falling into our traditional country mold. From a global standpoint, we want people to not be confused and we also want to make sure that unsigned artists understand that we can have a home for them that isn’t affiliated with our traditional country strategy.”
Free Flight Records resurrects the name of an RCA Nashville-affiliated imprint started in the ‘70s, when acts like Charlie Daniels and Exile were having both pop and country success. “It was created for a similar purpose and that was to serve a movement of music outside of the purely country category,” Goodman says. The label only existed for a short time in the ‘70s and has been dormant since then, but the name still belonged to Sony. “We just thought that could be a really cool bit of connective tissue to what we’re doing right now,” Goodman says.
At a time when pop labels are signing country acts, such as Warner Records signing Zach Bryan or Columbia inking outlaw country artist Koe Wetzel, Goodman says the borders are gone. “We should be as genreless and as broad thinking as we possibly can because the new world order allows us to do so,” he says. “It’s a fun, creative thing for us, but it’s also a really good business model because we’re sitting right here in the community of this incredible songwriting city. Ben and Darren opened our eyes to what is actually happening in our backyard.”
Goldsmith released For the World Between My Ears on Sony Music Nashville in September but is already working on his new project for Free Flight. He’s in Los Angeles writing for the album now with such songwriting greats Dan Wilson and Rick Nowels.
Though terrestrial radio may come into play, the plan is to promote these artists primarily through digital strategies including streaming and social media. “If and when the time is right to work them at terrestrial radio, we will, but for us strategically, whether it’s [Sony Music Nashville] or Free Flight, that’s always kind of the last piece of the puzzle,” Goodman says, though he adds that when Goldsmith toured last year, they serviced his music to Triple A radio. “We thought this is probably a crowd where we should go ahead and create some awareness with Ben,” he says.
For now, Sony Nashville’s existing staff will handle Free Flight’s roster, though Lindsey says “as this progresses, we’ve already discussed the possibility of staffing up and what that could look like.” There is no “magic number” when it comes to how many acts Free Flight will sign,” she adds.
The goal is simply to sign and build acts unfettered by attaching labels. “I don’t want people to look at Free Flight and go, ‘Oh, that’s a rock imprint’ or ‘That’s a pop imprint,’” Goodman says. “At its core, it’s just about being as broad minded as we possibly can be.”
Primary Wave Music has finalized a deal with the Village People to control the rights to the group’s master recording and publishing assets as well as the rights to their name and likeness. In what is described as a “partnership” with the surviving family of Village People co-founder Henri Belolo — Jonathan and Anthony Belolo — Primary Wave will now look after “Y.M.C.A.,” “Macho Man” and other hits from the group.
Founded in 1977, Village People was started by producer Jacques Morali and his partner Belolo who were working with singer and Broadway actor Victor Willis to provide background vocals for a different musical project. Then Morali told Willis, “I had a dream you sang lead vocals on an album I produced and it went very, very big.” Following his gut, Willis sang four tracks for Morali and Belolo (“San Francisco [You’ve Got Me]” “In Hollywood [Everyone’s a Star],” “Fire Island,” and “Village People”). Quickly, the Village People project became a sensation with their songs climbing to the top of the charts, and Willis, Morali, Belolo formed it as an official group, adding in the rag tag team of Felipe Rose, Alex Briley, Mark Mussler, David Forrest, Lee Mouton and Peter Whitehead to fill out its ranks.
Later, they added Randy Jones, Glenn Hughes and David Hodo to the ensemble after placing an ad in a trade paper that read: “Macho Types Wanted for World-Famous Disco Group.” Donning stereotypical “macho” costumes — like construction work, biker, cowboy and more — group went on to pen defining hits and become a symbol of the Disco era. To this day, the group continues, now comprised of Willis, Angel Morales, James Kwong, Chad Freeman, James Lee, and James J.J. Lippold.
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“As we were picking up the mantle following our father’s passing in 2019, we soon realized that – to achieve his dreams of bringing the Village People ideal into the 21st century the right way is a very bold endeavor,” say the Belolos in a joint statement. “Our partnership with the amazing team at Primary Wave now brings us the backup and expertise that will ensure we can rise to the task together. With multiple projects in development, the future looks bright as ever for the Village People!”
“The Village People have brought so much joy to listeners around the world for decades,” says Lexi Todd, vp of business and legal affairs at Primary Wave Music. “With disco-inspired music all over the contemporary charts, now is the perfect time to launch our new partnership. We look forward to working alongside Jonathan and Anthony to reinvigorate the Village People brand.”
Six weeks after Audacy filed for bankruptcy, a corporate maneuver that sees Soros Fund Management emerge as the radio company’s primary shareholder.
Soros Fund Management takes its seat at the head of the table after acquiring a sizeable chunk of Audacy’s debt, roughly $414 million in total.
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The private investment management fund takes around 40% of Audacy’s total senior debt, source tells the New York Post, outsizing the stakes held by the likes of PGIM, Capital Commercial Finance, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mockingbird Credit Opportunities Company, and Solus Alternative Asset Management.
Billboard reached out to Audacy but reps hadn’t responded at press time.
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Led by chairman George Soros, who founded the private investment management fund in 1970, Soros Fund Management has experience working with radio and media assets, including $80 million invested for Latino Media Networks by way of Lakestar Finance, notes Radio Ink, plus investments in Vice Media and Crooked Media.
Addressing the Soros development, Audacy noted, “The decision by our existing and new debtholders to become equity holders in Audacy represents a significant vote of confidence in our company and the future of the radio and audio business.”
Its statement continues, “We expect to emerge from our restructuring process with a strong capital structure and well-positioned to capitalize on our strategic transformation into a scaled leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company. We intend to continue running our business, executing our strategy and delivering for our listeners and advertisers as we always do.”
The Soros investment comes amid a turbulent time for Audacy, which on Jan. 7 said it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce debts.
The Philadelphia-based broadcasting giant, formerly named Entercom, said at the time that a deal with debt holders would reduce its debt load by about 80%, from $1.9 billion, acquired primarily from its 2017 merger with CBS Radio, down to $350 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That agreement, first disclosed by The Wall Street Journal, would give Audacy’s debt holders equity in the reorganized company.
Audacy’s portfolio includes 230 radio stations, among them WCBS in New York, KROQ in Los Angeles, WFAN Sports Radio in New York and WBBM Newsradio in Chicago. Audacy’s podcasting brands include two studios, Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, and Popcorn, an online marketplace for connecting creators and brands. Each month, the business claims to engage with over 170 million.
Trouble was brewing back in May 2023 when the business warned that a weak financial outlook could cause it to default on its debt.
Audacy has previously said it does not expect any operational impact due to the bankruptcy and restructuring.
A hearing to approve the Audacy restructuring plan is set for Feb. 20 in a Houston bankruptcy court.
Cumulus Media vp of country Charlie Cook is set to leave the company, with his last day being May 31, Billboard has confirmed. Cook also serves as operations manager for Cumulus’ Nashville cluster and program director for Nashville country stations WKDF and WSM-FM Nashville. Cook’s most recent contract renewal was in 2022.
Country Aircheck first reported the news of Cook’s upcoming departure, noting that Cook told vp/market manager Allison Warren, chief content officer Brian Philips and senior vp of programming operations John Dimick in April 2023 of his desire to pursue new challenges. Cook stated, “They asked me to give them a year. Well, here we are almost a year later and it’s time for me to move away from an experience that I have loved for something new and different. Thanking everyone inside Cumulus and in Nashville would fill these pages so I look forward to personally thanking everyone over the next few months.”
Philips said in a statement, “Charlie Cook’s accomplishments and awards are the stuff of Nashville legend. He is of course, in character, irreplaceable. I foresee a future where we will always rely on his wise counsel. He represents the gold standard among Cumulus employees. We are deeply grateful for his immeasurable contributions.”
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Warren added, “Charlie has been a vital part of the Cumulus and specifically WKDF/WSM-FM family for the past nine years. He has helped shape and drive the format of both 103.3 Country and 99.5 Nash Icon, bringing joy and entertainment to countless listeners. He is not only a talented professional, but also a loyal friend and a passionate music lover. We cannot thank him enough for his years of service, dedication, and creativity. We wish him the very best in whatever adventures are ahead. He will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.”
Cook launched his radio career at Michigan stations in the 1970s, followed by roles at stations in Denver, L.A. and New York. He received Billboard‘s country DJ of the year honor in 1977. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, heserved in roles at McVay Media and Westwood One.
Cook was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2011 before joining Cumulus in 2014. Last year, he was honored with the Academy of Country Music’s service award, alongside Bill Mayne; Cook is the Academy of Country Music’s longest-serving board member.
Cumulus Media has launched a search for Cook’s successor, having posted a job opening for a music & brand content manager.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first of two weekends has now sold out of general admission tickets, according to promoter Goldenvoice. Once known for selling out on the same day that the lineup was released, this year, the festival took exactly 27 days, four hours and 38 minutes to sell approximately 125,000 tickets […]
Tracy Chapman‘s 36-year-old original version of “Fast Car” is coming to radio again.
One of the most beloved moments at the Feb. 4 Grammy Awards was a rare public performance from Chapman, who collaborated with country artist Luke Combs for a duets version of the song. Originally a hit for Chapman in 1988, Combs’ version brought about a chart resurgence of the song last year.
Now, Rhino Records is servicing Chapman’s song to adult alternative, adult contemporary, Americana, classic hits, classic rock, college and non-commercial formats, according to a source. The recording originally came out on Elektra but now falls under Warner Music Group’s catalog division handled by Rhino.
Rhino is also servicing the video of the pair’s Grammy performance and asking radio stations to add the clip to their socials and websites, but there are no plans to make a quality audio version of the clip available to radio.
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Following Chapman and Combs’ duet at the Grammys, the original version of “Fast Car” earned 6 million official U.S. streams from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, marking a 153% rise, according to Luminate. “Fast Car” also earned 35,000 digital downloads, elevating it to the top of the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time.
On Monday (Feb. 5), the day immediately following the Grammys performance, “Fast Car” earned 949,000 official on-demand streams — a 241% increase from the 278,000 it earned the previous Monday (Jan. 29). The song also saw its digital sales surge, rising 38,400% from “a negligible amount to nearly 14,000,” Billboard previously reported on Feb. 7. Combs also saw streams of his version rise 37% to nearly 1.6 million while it was up nearly 3,900% in sales to just over 6,000.
Chapman’s original “Fast Car” also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 42. Her version had previously appeared on the Hot 100 in October 1988, peaking at No. 6. Combs’ version reached No. 2 on the same chart in 2023.
Assistance in reporting this story was provided by Melinda Newman.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s collaborative album Vultures 1 moved between distribution companies on Thursday (Feb. 15), starting the day with FUGA and then moving over to Label Engine.
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Label Engine, a distribution company acquired by Create Music Group in 2015, had previously put out the two lead singles from Vultures 1. Confusingly, however, the album then arrived via FUGA.
A FUGA spokesperson told Billboard on Thursday that “a long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement.” As a result, the company said it planned “to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.” This created some turbulence for West’s release, which was briefly pulled off Apple Music and iTunes before it reappeared.
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The album’s new home, Label Engine, was founded by Rich Billis; in 2022, he said that “over 1,500 labels and a total of over 90,000 artists” use his company for distribution.
Billis said the company built its client base in part because “we had a very low [distribution] rate which was 15%, compared to 25% (what a lot of other distributors were charging).”
“We also provided free use of all the accounting and promotion tools I had created,” he continued. “That seemed to do very well. We quickly acquired customers and grew quite quickly in the upcoming years. From there, we got purchased by Create Music Group, which was a client of ours for a year or so. That’s when I took over as CTO of Create Music Group.”
On Wednesday, Spotify also removed the song “Good (Don’t Die)” from Vultures 1 after Donna Summer‘s estate complained it interpolated the singer’s work without permission, as did Amazon Music and Apple Music later, too.
But despite the hiccups around the new album release, listeners continue to seek it out. The song “Carnival” is No. 1 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, picking up nearly 6 million daily streams on the service. “Burn” and “FUK SUMN” are also in the top 20.
For Will Bratton, the best part of Super Bowl LVIII was not when Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman caught the game-winning pass for an overtime touchdown or when Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker nailed a 57-yard field goal. It was when Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, during the trophy ceremony after the game, belted out an impromptu, raggedy chorus of “Viva Las Vegas” on the CBS broadcast.
Those three words, repeated several times in a pacing and melody only vaguely resembling Elvis Presley’s classic 1964 hit, have delivered an unexpected payday for the song’s rights holders.
“We were very excited about him doing that,” says Bratton, president of Pomus Songs Inc., namesake publisher for the late Doc Pomus, who wrote the song with Mort Shuman. “Royalties are paid for that performance through BMI.”
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Kelce’s rendition constituted an “ephemeral use,” according to Rachel Jacobson, who oversees film and TV for Warner Chappell Music (WCM), which administers Pomus’ recordings. As when a marching band plays an off-the-cuff snippet of a song during a televised football game, the use generates a royalty payment through BMI as a public performance. “Anything beyond that, then you come and clear it,” she says.
Although Bratton couldn’t say how much money Pomus Songs made from Kelce’s performance — “BMI’s generally three quarters behind, so we won’t have that data until probably next December” — the revenue is likely to continue. Late-night talk shows airing Kelce’s version would have to pay for a “previewing synch license,” according to Bratton, which would lead to a negotiated fee as opposed to the ephemeral use royalty payment. WCM’s Jacobson is not aware of any requests for such a license involving Kelce’s rendition of “Viva.”
For the Super Bowl, Bratton says, “It was also licensed to CBS Sports for a pre-game show and it was shown once during the game over a viewing of Taylor Swift. That paid — I don’t want to say how much, but it was good money.”
Written for the Presley film of the same name, “Viva” has come to symbolize Las Vegas glamor-and-gambling culture and has been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Dead Kennedys, ZZ Top and Shawn Colvin. Bob Dylan wrote a chapter about the song in his 2022 book, The Philosophy of Modern Song: “This is a song about faith. The kind of faith where you step under a shower spigot in the middle of the desert and fully believe water will come out.”
The song was also in The Big Lebowski and a Viagra commercial (“Viva Viagra”), which, Bratton recalls, “was a very nice synch license momentarily — but I’m not sure if we regret it or not.”
Pomus, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter who wrote classics such as The Drifters’ “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “This Magic Moment”; The Coasters’ “Young Blood”; and Presley’s “Little Sister,” was a “sports fanatic,” according to Bratton, who is married to Pomus’ daughter, Sharyn Felder. “He would have been thrilled that his song was used like that,” he says of Kelce’s “Vegas” rendition. “It was more of a holler than a sing. It was his enthusiasm that was notable.” He adds: “We just like it to make money.”
After watching LGBTQ+ artists dominate at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Ryan Butler — the Recording Academy’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion — says he’s finally seeing his team’s hard work pay off. “After those wins, I’m confident that we’ve done the work that was needed,” he tells Billboard.
That work, for the last two and a half years, has involved building out the Academy’s DREAM Initiative (Diversity Reimagined by Engaging All Musicmakers). Through the new network, Butler’s DE&I team created a series of what he calls “membership resource groups” to help “create dialogue and a deeper understanding of what support looks like” for underrepresented groups — including women, the Black community and plenty of others. Now, with their most recent group, the Recording Academy is looking at what they can do to help the LGBTQ+ community.
During Grammy Week, the Recording Academy officially launched Academy Proud, their latest membership resource group aimed at increasing representation and visibility among their voting body. Partnering with LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD and queer entertainment organization OUTLOUD, Academy Proud officially launched during a Grammy House event on Sat., Feb. 3.
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So how will Academy Proud actively benefit the LGBTQ+ music community? Below, Billboard chats with Butler about the new initiative, his goals for driving representation at the Academy forward and the work that still needs to be done for underrepresented communities at the Grammys.
Tell me a little bit about how this initiative got started — when did the concept first come up, and when did you decide to partner with GLAAD and OUTLOUD here?
It’s been in my mind for about two and a half years, when we first started to partner with GLAAD. I wanted to create a network of member resource groups — most companies have ERGs (employee resource groups), but we are so member-focused, that I wanted to be a little innovative in this space and create MRGs. So, I created this network called the DREAM network, and under DREAM we have eight priority demographics, and we proceeded to create MRGs around each one of those demographics. So we have Women in the Mix, the Black Music Collective, Grammys Next Gen, Gold Music Alliance, and now Academy Proud. We also have an MRG for the Latin community, for Indigenous people and for disability and accessibility.
For our readers, can you explain how a member resource group works for the Academy’s membership? What is it that an MRG provides directly to members?
On its highest level, it’s driving representation. This is a way for us to really establish a baseline of how many of our members identify as LGBTQ+, and then [that] helps us figure out what we can do to support that membership, to increase representation in that membership. I feel like inclusion and diversity are often action items — it’s very easy to invite people and include them — but you first really need to create a sense of belonging. So, what the membership resource groups do is create a sense of belonging, and give someone who is maybe Grammy-curious, and who may have joined us at a Grammy House event, to know and understand that the Recording Academy can be their home.
Dr. David Jones and Ryan Butler on Feb. 3, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Unique Nicole/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
So what specific initiatives do you see Academy Proud taking on in the coming months or years to actively court a more diverse LGBTQ+ membership base?
Well, I think the visibility of what we did this Grammys Week is going to be amazing for those who may be outside of the Academy wanting to be a part of it, or determining if they’re going to be able to become members. The visibility of having an official Grammy Week activation is huge — but I really want to make sure that we understand what support looks like for the queer community. It’s going to be different for every community. I identify as a Black, gay man; I know that we often talk about intersectionality, but for me, it’s also about indivisibility. I’m always Black, and I’m always gay, and I don’t really live my life in sections. It’s great for us to have that dialogue and to understand how the queer community feels within the music community, and what we as the Academy can do to support the community year round. So if it’s panels, discussions, surveys, gatherings, I want it to be interest-led by the community itself.
We could make a beautiful deck and say “this is what we’re going to do,” but that may not be what the community needs. It’s really important for us to be listening, and to really have a deep understanding of what support looks like. What is stopping you from joining the Recording Academy, and if you have joined, what’s stopping you from being an active member? What barriers do you see to becoming an elected leader? That’s really how we change — it’s about representation on our board of trustees, in our elected positions, as presidents of our chapters.
I know you’re still in the early stages of the initiative here, but in those early stages, has there been any particular feedback that provided a solid baseline of where to start?
I think the recognition is where we really needed to start. In the queer community, we understand that we are the innovators, we understand that we are on the front end of helping to curate and cultivate what’s happening across the culture. I think the first step was the Recording Academy recognizing that, and recognizing the contribution and the impact that the queer community has on music and other cultural areas; music, fashion, film, etc. For us to actually recognize that, I don’t think there’s many organizations that are really standing on the fact that, but for the contributions of the queer community, we would not be where we are today.
The launch of the initiative happened in tandem with this year’s ceremony, which saw a lot of historic wins for the LGBTQ+ community — alongside having a wide range of LGBTQ nominees, three of the Big Four winners were queer women. To what do you attribute this uptick in queer representation at the Grammys?
It’s really because of the hard work we’ve been doing across all of our verticals. Our philosophy is going from the inside out — we’re just now starting to see the “out” part, but the work has been in progress for years. You really have to build a place where someone feels like they belong. Yes, we could have launched Academy Proud two years ago, but we wanted to make sure the LGBTQ community felt like they belonged at the Academy. From here, we just keep moving forward and increasing the representation on our national board and in our programming, and making sure that representation is not just isolated to the month of June.
With those bigger strides, there are also areas where representation is still coming up short — there has been a noticeable lack of trans and non-binary nominees over the last few years, even as the number of LGBTQ+ nominees grew year-over-year.
We can never celebrate too early, and there’s plenty of work still to be done, but I feel like we are in a much better position now. When DE&I is being attacked in so many spaces, I am proud and honored to know that the Recording Academy stands firm in supporting it, and it’s still a part of our values, and we understand how much better we are when we have the contributions of everyone.
That’s especially true as the political right continues to push anti-LGBTQ bills and laws, including laws that aim to restrict performers’ rights to free speech and expression. How do you look at combatting those restrictions from the perspective of providing DE&I resources for the Academy’s membership?
It’s about creators, and it’s about being there 365 days a year. We’re known for Music’s Biggest Night and the awards show that we do, but we’re working through the rest of the year, not just on Grammys night. Whether it’s our advocacy and public policy team in Washington, D.C. or our DEI team, the Academy is here protecting and advocating on behalf of all creators. Whenever there is a creator in a space facing a barrier, it is our job to make sure that we eliminate that barrier, and allow that creator to be their full self.
I want to go back to talking about the trans community, though, because they are the ones being most directly affected by that legislation. With this lack of trans visibility in the music industry at large, including at the Grammys, how does this initiative specifically aim to uplift the voices not only of trans and non-binary artists, but trans and non-binary workers throughout the industry?
That work is not just isolated to Academy Proud — it’s also part of Women in the Mix, where we made a very conscious decision to not use terms like “women-identifying.” We’re here for all women — if you are a woman, you are a woman. We released our Women in the Mix study, and it was the first study that surveyed gender-diverse people in the industry. Now, we do have a baseline for that, and recommendations surrounding that. It really is about that crossover and overlap between our membership resource groups. We are absolutely dedicated to uplifting the trans community, through both Academy Proud and Women in the Mix.