USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
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.
As the music industry prepares to celebrate at the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 2), the latest report from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative suggests that things for women in music are holding steady but not moving forward. The study is based on the year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart and Grammy nominations in key categories.
After documenting significant change for women last year, the Spotify-supported study finds that there was little movement in 2024. Women comprised 37.7% of artists across the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart last year, which is a bit better than 2023 (35%) and a significant improvement from 2012 (22.7%). More than a third (38.9%) of individual artists on the year-end chart were women, compared to 40.6% in 2023 and 35.8% in 2012.
“Women artists in 2024 saw little change,” Dr. Smith said in a statement. “In fact, it is the number of men that has declined while the number of women in 2024 was consistent with prior years. This suggests that it is fluctuations in the number of men, not gains for women that is driving these findings. For those interested in seeing change in the music industry, this is not a sign of progress.”
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The percentage of women songwriters on the year-end Hot 100 chart in 2024 was 18.9%, which was similar to the percentage in 2023 (19.5%) and significantly higher than the 11% of songwriters in 2012 who were women. Whereas women of color were responsible for the gains seen for women in 2023, this was not the case in 2024. Last year, the number of women of color represented on the year-end chart as songwriters dipped while the number of white women songwriters increased. Just over half (54%) of those songs featured at least one woman songwriter, on par with 2023 and significantly higher than 2012.
“While there may be movement in the independent space, the songs and charts evaluated represent the agenda-setting music that has the greatest opportunity to launch and grow a career,” said Dr. Smith. “Until the people in the executive ranks and A&R roles take seriously the lack of women in the industry, we will continue to see little change.”
Looking to producers of popular songs in 2024, once again there was no increase for women. A total of 5.9% of producing credits on the Hot 100 year-end chart were held by women, compared to 6.5% in 2023 and 2.4% in 2012. And of the 14 women producers on the year-end chart in 2024, only two were women of color. Across all 13 years of the study, 93.3% of songs lacked any women producers.
“Behind the scenes, women have not lost ground since the gains we saw last year,” said Dr. Smith. “However, the numbers are not growing. Programs like Be The Change, Keychange, She Is The Music, Spotify’s EQL, Women’s Audio Mission, and others are supporting talented women who are ready to take on opportunities. These numbers can continue to grow if the industry looks to these organizations and the many qualified women ready to work as songwriters and producers.”
Artist race/ethnicity was also assessed in the report. The percentage of artists of color (what the study calls “underrepresented artists”) on the year-end chart in 2024 (44.6%) fell significantly from 2023, when the number stood at 61%. Despite the decline, the percentage of artists of color remained on par with the proportion of the U.S. population that is people of color. Additionally, it was still meaningfully greater than 2012 (38.4%).
The drop affected both men and women of color, though the decline for women was steeper. In 2024, 40.8% of all women artists were women of color, while 46.9% of men were men of color. In 2023, nearly two-thirds of women on the popular charts were women of color (64.9%) as were more than half of men (59.4%).
The report also assessed Grammy nominations in the six categories that comprise the General Field: album, record and song of the year, best new artist, and producer and songwriter of the year, non-classical. According to Annenberg, just under a quarter (22.7%) of all nominees in these categories in 2025 were women, similar to 2024 (24%) and significantly greater than 2013 (7.9%).
The Annenberg analysis counts all nominees in album and record of the year, not just artists; in those two categories, producers, engineer/mixers and mastering engineers are nominated alongside artists. (There are no so-called “supplemental” nominees in the other four categories named above.)
This year, female solo artists took four of the eight nominations for best new artist, the same as last year. But last year, a male/female duo (The War and Treaty) was also nominated. That represents a slight drop for women this year, but women still had parity.
In song of the year, the number of female songwriters who are nominated inched up this year, from eight last year to nine this year.
Annenberg reports that the one nomination for a woman in the producer of the year, non-classical category represented a significant jump, as Alissia is only the second woman to be nominated in the category since the study began tracking nominations. (Linda Perry was nominated in the category six years ago.)
Meanwhile, four of the five nominees for songwriter of the year, non-classical this year are women: Jessi Alexander, Amy Allen, Jessie Jo Dillon and RAYE. The only male nominee is Édgar Barrera. This compares to just one female nominee last year.
“The Recording Academy has demonstrated that it can recognize the contributions of women to the music industry—this is clear through the increase we observed last year and that it has continued into this year,” said Dr. Smith. “The challenge now is to continue that growth and to see more women receiving acknowledgement of their talent and effort through awards like the Grammys, particularly for women in producing roles.”
The latest report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative can be found here.
After years of stagnancy, women are gaining ground on the charts and at the Grammys.
A report on gender equality in the music industry by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative — which was supported by Spotify and is the latest in an annual series released by the groups — assessed 12 years and 1,200 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, looking at artists, songwriters and producers.
The study, Inclusion in the Recording Studio? Gender & Race/Ethnicity of Artists, Songwriters & Producers across 1,100 Popular Songs from 2012 to 2022, is out Tuesday (Jan. 30.)
The study’s key takeaway is that women’s participation in music creation, which has historically lagged, has improved across several metrics.
On the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, the percentage of women artists reached 35%, a 12-year high. The study attributes this change to the fact that 40.6% of spots on these charts in 2023 were occupied by individual women artists, an increase over 2022 when the number was 34.8%. Improvements were less significant for women-led bands or duos.
The number of women songwriters also increased, from 14.1% in 2022 to 19.5% in 2023. The study notes that this change was due “almost exclusively to the number of women of color credited as songwriters in 2023.” The reports cites 55 women of color receiving a songwriting credit in 2023, a jump from 33 women of color 2022 and 14 in 2012.
Fifty-six percent of songs in 2023 included at least one woman songwriter — an increase from 2022 and the highest percentage in 12 years.
“The changes for songwriters are doubtlessly due to the work of numerous groups working to support women in music,” Dr. Smith says in a statement. “Whether She Is The Music, Spotify Equal, Moving the Needle, Women’s Audio Mission, Be the Change, Keychange, Girls Make Beats, or others, there has been a groundswell of support for women across the last several years. This advocacy and activism is propelling change in the industry. While there is work to be done, these groups are well-positioned to keep fighting for change.”
In the producing realm, fourteen, or 6.5%, of the producers credited in 2023 were women. This surpassed the previous record of 4.9% in 2019. Nearly half, or six, of the women producers in 2023 were women of color. But, over the nine years the study has assessed gender equality in production, 94% of the evaluated songs did not include a single woman producer. Across nine years, there have been 29.8 men to every one woman working as a producer.
The race/ethnicity of artists is also a focus of the report. In 2023, 61% of the artists on the Hot 100 Year-End Charts were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, while 39% were white. This was a 12-year high and an increase from 2022, when the number was 50.6%, but not significantly greater than the percentage of underrepresented artists in 2020, when the number was 59%.
The study also assessed the six major Grammy categories: record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist, producer of the year and songwriter of the year.
The study found that nearly a quarter (24%) of nominations across these six categories went to women in 2024 — a jump from 15.5% in 2023. This overall change was reflected in four categories: record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist. This year, nominees in these categories include Taylor Swift, Victoria Monét, SZA, Miley Cryus, boygenius, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo. In each of these categories, the percentage of women nominees increased significantly from 2023 to 2024 and from the first year the awards were evaluated in 2013.
For the fifth year in a row, no women were nominated for producer of the year.
“Awards like the Grammys show us how women’s contributions to the industry are received,” Dr. Smith says. “The increases in nominations this year are a positive step in recognizing the creative work that women did last year in competitive fields. The Recording Academy has clearly taken inclusion seriously and worked to increase the diversity of its membership, particularly its voting members.”
But, she continues, “There is still too little recognition for women producers and songwriters in those categories, and there are too few women of color nominated for their work. For music industry honors to truly reflect the creative workforce and the audience they serve, there must be a place for women and particularly women of color in these awards.”
Other key findings:
• In 2023, 164 artists appeared on the Hot 100 Billboard Year-End Chart. Of these, 64.6% were men, 34.8% were women, and 0.6% were gender non-binary.
• Across the 12-year sample, women artists were the most likely to work in pop (34.7%) and least likely in alternative (14.4%) and hip-hop (14.9%).
• Across 12 years, Drake had the most credits as a solo artist, appearing 52 times, double that of Justin Bieber, who appears on 25 songs. Nicki Minaj was the woman with the highest number of credits, appearing 25 times, while Ariana Grande followed with 23 songs and Rihanna with 22.
• The percentage of underrepresented women on the charts in 2023 was 65%, with this number the same as 2022 and and almost doubling since 2012, when it was 33.3%. “Put differently,” the study says, “women of color continue to dominate the charts.”
• In terms of genre, across 12 years, women were most likely to write pop (20.1%) and dance/electronic (19.6%) songs, and least likely to write hip-hop and rap (7.5%) and country (9.9%) songs. Even in pop music, where women songwriters most often appear, they were outnumbered by male songwriter by a ratio of 4 to 1.
The University of California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is back with its annual report on inclusion in the recording studio and, consistent with previous years, it found that women have been woefully underrepresented across the recorded music industry — though some gains have been made.
“There is good news for women artists this year,” said Dr. Smith in a release. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves — there is still much work to be done before we can say that women have equal opportunity in the music industry.”
Released Tuesday (Jan. 31), the sixth annual report on gender representation in the music industry — sponsored by Spotify and titled “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” — examined the gender of artists, songwriters and producers across all 1,100 songs included on Billboard’s Hot 100 year-end charts spanning from 2012 to 2022. Additionally, the study assessed every Grammy nominee nominated for record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist and producer of the year within the same time frame, along with this year’s inaugural songwriter of the year category.
In 2022, women represented only 30% of the 160 artists on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart, while men made up 69.4% and artists who identified as non-binary made up less than 1%. That 30% representation number is slightly better than the 11-year average, which places women at 22.3% of the total.
In terms of race, the report found that half of all artists on the year-end Hot 100 chart in 2022 were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. This was a decrease from 2021 when the study found that 57.2% of artists came from those groups. Between 2012 and 2022, 48.1% of all artists across the 1,100-song sample came from those groups.
Women of color fared slightly better last year, with the study noting that 65% of all artists from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups were women — an increase from 55% in 2021.
In terms of songwriters, women represented roughly 14% of songwriting credits on the Hot 100 in both 2022 and 2021. That represents only a slight increase over the full 11-year period when they made up 12.8% on average. Between 2012 and 2022, more than half of songs did not credit a woman songwriter, while 43% had one or more women songwriters. By contrast, less than 1% of all songs were missing male songwriters. Additionally, the 12 male songwriters with the most credits across the 1,100-song sample (Drake led the pack with 49, while Nicki Minaj topped the women songwriters list with 20) were collectively responsible for crafting nearly 25% of them.
Women of color landed more songwriting credits than white women in 2022, though the report suggests “this is not a metric worth celebrating” since the total number of women songwriters of color in 2022 decreased compared to 2021.
The number of women with producer credits in popular music continues to be alarmingly low. In 2022, a mere 3.4% of producers were women across all songs included on the year-end Hot 100 chart. This was almost even with the percentage of women producers represented on all Hot 100 year-end charts since 2012 (excepting 2013-2015, which were not counted) when just 2.8% of songs credited women producers. Of the 50 women credited across the eight-year sample, just 13 — or 26% — were women of color.
The 2022 statistics also show that the Recording Academy’s Women in the Mix Pledge — which asked industry members to commit to working with a woman producer or engineer on a song — had no real impact on the charts. In 2022, only one pledge-taker (Nicki Minaj) worked with a woman producer (Malibu Babie) on a song that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart. Meanwhile, no pledge-takers worked with a woman engineer last year.
“This industry solution has not proven effective,” said Dr. Smith. “Until women and men artists hire women songwriters and producers the numbers will not move. It’s more than just allowing an artist to credit themselves on a song, it’s about identifying talent and hiring women in these roles. That’s the only way that we will see change occur.”
The Grammy Awards, which will hold their 65th annual ceremony Sunday (Feb. 5), also have a large indifference in terms of representation, according to the study. In 2023, 15.2% of nominees across six major categories are women — virtually unchanged from 2022 when the number was 14.1%. Across the 11 years evaluated, 13.9% of nominees in the major categories were women, while 86% were men. In 2023, women were most likely to be nominated for best new artist (50%) and song of the year (33.3%) but represented only a fraction of nominees for record of the year (15.1%) and album of the year (12.2%). On the bright side, in this year’s brand-new songwriter of the year category, women made up 60% of the nominees.
Of the women nominated in the past 11 years across all major categories, 51.5% were white while 48.5% were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. But in 2023, women of color received more nominations in key categories than white women did. According to the report, 61.5% of the women nominated this year were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, compared to 38.5% who were white.
In the report, a simple solution is proposed to help lessen the inequities: hire women. “The process of creating a song is collaborative, and until women are involved in the process, we will continue to see the numbers lag,” it reads.
Pipeline programs like She Is The Music, the EQL program, and Women’s Audio Mission are also touted as ways to support inclusion efforts. “Women are stereotyped — in terms of the types of songs and genres they can create, and into the roles they can play — they are sexualized, and their talents and experience are discounted. The pipeline programs noted above are designed to address these barriers, but there is more to do. As stated earlier, women must be hired, and they require allies and champions — men and women — throughout the industry who will help demolish barriers.”
To read further findings from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, head here.
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