Time’s Up leader and former chief of staff to Michelle Obama Tina Tchen has unveiled the members of the Recording Academy’s Task Force for Female Advancement, of which she is chair. According to Variety, artist Sheryl Crow, inclusion rider co-creator and Inclusion Initiative founder/director Dr. Stacy L. Smith, and BET Networks CEO Debra Lee are among them. Overall, 16 individuals are joining the task force — 13 women and three men.
Led by Tchen, the task force will investigate “barriers and biases affecting women and other underrepresented voices in the music industry and, specifically, the Recording Academy.”
“The music industry faces numerous challenges — from combatting long-held biases to making sure women are represented and respected within the community,” Tchen stated. “This task force is an important initial step by the Recording Academy to demonstrate its commitment to tackling these challenges in a comprehensive way. I am honored to partner with them in this effort and look forward to working with members of the task force as we look to make the music industry a diverse and inclusive community for all.”
The challenges Tchen is referring to are, of course, the idiotic comments Recording Academy prez Neil Portnow made at the Grammys in January and the backlash they sparked. In response to the lack of nominations and wins for female artists, Portnow said, “[Women] who want to be musicians, engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level [need] to step up.”
In the wake of that charming, helpful advice, female music execs drafted an open letter calling for Portnow’s resignation. An online petition shared by Vanessa Carlton demanded his exit as well. Other female artists including P!nk, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and Charli XCX also voiced their disdain of Portnow’s remarks.
But Portnow is only one part of the music industry’s far-reaching sexism. In recent years, women have accounted for less than 10 percent of nominees in the major Grammy categories. At the 2018 edition — dubbed #GrammysSoMale — Alessia Cara was the only woman to win a solo prize, while Lorde, the only female Album of the Year contender, wasn’t given the opportunity to perform solo, unlike her male counterparts. A recent Inclusion Initiative study found that women represented just 22.4 percent of all performers across 2012-17’s 600 most popular songs. The gender disparity is even worse behind the scenes, where women comprised 12.3 percent of the top 600 songs’ writers. Across 300 songs, women accounted for two percent of producers, a ratio of 49 males for every female.
Hopefully, the Recording Academy’s new task force has, to quote Tchen, “the experience and passion needed to drive real change.” The music industry definitely needs it.
Tchen was appointed task force chair in March. She leads the Chicago branch of law firm Buckley Sandler LLP, where she is a partner. Her role involves advising companies on issues related to gender equality, sexual harassment, and diversity. Tchen helped launch the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which offers legal support to survivors of workplace sexual harassment and abuse. As of early March the fund had raised $21 million and helped more than 1,700 women from all over the U.S.
The members of the Task Force for Female Advancement are below, courtesy of Variety:
- Stephanie Alexa, vice president of finance and licensing administration, ATO Records
- Michele Anthony, executive vice president and executive management board member, Universal Music Group
- Cam, Grammy-nominated artist
- Common, Grammy-winning artist
- Sheryl Crow, Grammy-winning artist
- Andra Day, Grammy-nominated artist
- Giselle Fernandez, award-winning television journalist
- Jimmy Jam, Grammy-winning artist
- Beth Laird, CEO and co-owner, Creative Nation
- Debra Lee, chairman and CEO, BET Networks
- Rebeca Leon, co-founder and CEO, Lionfish Entertainment
- Elizabeth Matthews, CEO, ASCAP
- Dr. Stacy L. Smith, founder and director, USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
- Ty Stiklorius, founder and CEO, Friends At Work
- Julie Swidler, executive vice president of business affairs and general counsel, Sony Music
- Dean Wilson, CEO, SEVEN20
