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The landscape for top music executives remains overwhelmingly white and male, according to a new report by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which notes that representation at the highest levels of the music industry have remained minimal despite declarations of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in by major music companies in 2020 — with many of them performing worse today than when data was last collected in 2021.  
On Wednesday (March 12), Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released their second Inclusion in the Music Business report — in partnership with Believe and Tunecore — that focuses on the gender and racial/ethnic identity of music executives, with data pulled from a survey of 2,793 executives across 106 music companies.

In one key finding, 86.8% of top executives (i.e. CEOs and presidents) at a smaller subset of 37 major and independent music companies were men, while 92.1% were white. All three non-white executives, two of whom were women of color, ran independent companies.

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“Much has been made of the ‘Year of the Woman’ in music, highlighting the work of artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chappell Roan or Sabrina Carpenter,” the report reads. “While the music stage may be perceived as increasingly open to women artists, the executive ranks have maintained the status quo. Women fill fewer than 20% of top leadership positions and are still rarely part of senior leadership teams at top companies.” 

“In comparison to 2021, there was no increase in the percentage of senior executives who were women, people of color, or women of color in these roles — in fact, the percentage of underrepresented top executives decreased,” the report adds.

In focusing on just six major music companies (Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, iHeartMedia and SiriusXM), the report discovered that just a third of all senior management executives at those companies were women, while 16.7% were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. In total, there were just eight women of color working in those roles, amounting to 10.3%.

In a broader analysis of senior leaders across the 106 companies — boiled down to 77 companies when taking into account subsidiaries — men held 84.4% of CEO/president roles while women held just 15.6%. The majority of those top executives (82.2%) were white, while just 17.8% were from underrepresented groups. Women of color held just 4.4% of these top roles. 

According to the report, among all companies surveyed, the presence of women executives falls significantly as the level of responsibility increases. Across the executive hierarchy categories of chief/president, executive vp/senior vp/GM and vp/head, women are most likely to hold positions at the vp/head level at 43.9%. This percentage drops to 38.1% of executive vp/senior vp/GM roles, while the percentage falls further, to 25.6%, at the chief/president position.

A similar pattern is found for underrepresented executives, who make up 25.9% of vp/head roles but only 19.7% and 21% of executive vp/senior vp/GM and chief/president roles, respectively. Only 10% of all executives in these categories were women of color.

The report suggests that the lack of female representation in higher roles could be due to two primary consequences of gendered leadership beliefs. “The first is that [women] may not be projected into leadership positions because they are not perceived to have the traditionally masculine traits associated with leadership,” the report reads. “The second is that when women do behave in ways that violate their gender role, perhaps by exhibiting leader-like behavior, they are punished. Thus women may be excluded from promotions for reasons that are not based on their actual performance but on gender role expectations that still play a role in how they are evaluated.” 

Dr. Smith and her team (which includes report authors Dr. Katherine Pieper, Zoe Moore and Sam Wheeler) also broke the findings down by five sectors: music groups, record labels, publishing, streaming and music distribution.  

The music distribution sector has the highest percentage of women executives (47.8%), which is significantly greater than the other four company types, none of which reached 40%. Women fill 39.4% of executive positions at record labels, 38.3% at music groups, 37.6% in publishing and 37.2% at streaming companies. 

Alternatively, record labels are a leader in underrepresented executives, who make up 30.1% of executive roles at labels. That percentage still lags behind proportional representation with the U.S. population (at 41.6% underrepresented, according to U.S. Census data) but is better than music groups (25.1%), music distribution (23.1%), streaming (17.9%) and publishing companies (16.3%). “Compared to the 2021 analysis, the current landscape shows a significant decline in the representation of underrepresented executives within the streaming sector,” the report reads. “There were no meaningful changes for the other industry categories.” 

A closer look at women of color in executive roles indicates that record labels (13.4%) were significantly more likely than streaming (7.5%) and publishing (6.9%) companies to be inclusive of underrepresented women in leadership. Music groups (11.8%) and music distribution companies (9.9%) held a middle position. 

“The lack of underrepresented executives in key leadership roles is particularly disappointing because in recent years, finding ways to promote talented people of color has been a priority for the industry,” the report states. “Efforts to address ongoing gaps have included the launch of industry-wide coalitions, task forces, and company-specific plans. Despite this, the underlying biases that thwart hiring and promotion have clearly not been addressed. To see more underrepresented leaders in the music industry, valuing the abilities, insights, and leadership traits that people of color bring to these roles is essential.” 

For women of color, the hurdles to reach the top echelons of the music industry remain the highest. Among the smaller subset of 37 music companies, a mere 5.3% of the highest-ranked executives and 10.3% of senior management teams are composed of women of color.

“The lack of women of color in leadership roles stands in contrast to the strong showing of women of color as artists and songwriters over the past several years,” the report states. “Clearly the music industry values women of color — but not the ways that women of color lead.” 

The report offers three actionable opportunities for change. First, it recommends using specific and measurable criteria in the hiring, evaluation and promotion process. Second is to create pathways to promotion that account for the different experiences needed to lead well while ensuring that performance metrics are met. The third is to pursue solutions that are sector-driven.  

“The music industry has faced a difficult season with layoffs across multiple companies,” the report states. “Additionally, the wider cultural moment is dismissive or even hostile to so-called DEI initiatives, creating wariness or even abandonment of principles and activities designed to cultivate and foster talent. Despite these challenges, the music business need not forego adopting strategies that will allow for the most qualified employees to rise to positions of greater responsibility and leadership, no matter their identity.” 

Check out the full report, including additional information on solutions, here.