In September, InChorus Group and Shesaid·so teamed up to launch a global survey of bias and harassment within the music industry. Now they’ve published some of the first results, based on the first 172 respondents.
The survey focused on incidents of bias, harassment and microaggressions experienced at work in the music industry. According to InChorus and Shesaid·so, 75% of microaggressions (which are incidents of ‘indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination’) reported were related to gender, 8% to age, 8% to ethnicity and 6% to sexuality. ‘Insensitive comments / questions’ accounted for 22% of incidents, ‘derogatory language’ for 15% and ‘offensive jokes / banter’ for 12%, while 8% related to ‘unwanted physical contact’.
InChorus and Shesaid·so have pointed out that this initial sample has been “predominantly white women working in the music industry”, which may mean the results don’t yet fully reflect the experiences of people of colour and LGBTQIA+ people. It’s a start, though. “The music business is already a highly complex ecosystem governed by unwritten rules and tacit assumptions, making it extremely difficult to single out these subtleties and address them efficiently,” said Shesaid·so founder Andrea Magdalina. “Our hope is that the data we collect with InChorus will inch us closer to identifying the industry’s biggest social issues and the best tactics to remedy them.” Anyone wanting to take part in the survey can find it here.
Music Ally’s next Learn Live webinar will help you understand what’s required for artists to thrive in new international markets!