USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Latest Study Finds ‘Women Are Missing In The Music Industry’


 –
graphic from Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” report released March 8, 2021.

Coinciding with International Women’s Day, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has released the fourth annual edition of the “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” report, assessing gender and race/ethnicity for artists, songwriters and producers appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart. Unfortunately, as a press release about the study notes, “there is little to celebrate” with women representing less than a quarter of all artists on the chart – and “no meaningful and sustained increase in the percentage of women artists in nearly a decade.”  

The report conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, with funding from Spotify, found that women only represented 20.2% of all artists on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts in 2020 and 21.6% of all artists on the year-end charts from 2012 to 2020. Women were most likely to perform solo (30% of artists), appearing on the chart in duos 7.1% and in bands 7.3%. 
The data is even more dismal when it comes to gender equality for songwriters and producers, with women representing 12.6% of songwriters between 2012-2020 (12.9% in 2020) and a depressing 2.6% of producers (2% in 2020) across a subset of 600 songs that were examined for producing credits. Out of the sample of 900 popular songs in the last nine years, 57.3% have no women songwriters, 30.6% have only one woman writer and less than 1% have only women writers. 
Examining 900 popular songs from 2012-2020, the top male songwriter (Max Martin) has 44 credits compared to the top women (Nicki Minaj) with 19 credits. 
Dr. Smith noted in a statement that the Recording Academy’s Women in the Mix pledge “has not had a meaningful impact on popular songs and producers. Solutions like the Women in the Mix pledge require pledge-takers who are intentional and accountable, and an industry that is committed to making change – something that clearly has not happened in this case.” 
On a positive note, 59% of the artists on the 2020 Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups and 41% were white – marking a nine-year high for underrepresented artists and the fourth consecutive year where the percentage of underrepresented artists increased. Between 2012 to 2020, 46.7% of artists were people of color across 900 songs, with 47.3% of all men artists and 45.1% of all women artists from underrepresented racial / ethnic groups. 
In the subset of 600 songs from the main sample that were examined for producing credits, only 9 of the 33 women producers were women of color.  Only one woman of color was credited as a producer for songs that appeared on chart in 2020: Mariah Carey, with her 1994 holiday tune “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”   
“It is International Women’s Day everywhere, except for women in music, where women’s voices remain muted” Dr. Smith said in a statement. “While women of color comprised almost half of all women artists in the nine years examined, there is more work needed to reach inclusion in this business.”
She added, “Women producers – and particularly women of color – are virtually erased from the music industry,” Dr. Smith said. “Only 5% of the songs in our sample spanning nine years of popular music had a woman producer. Harnessing the opportunity to showcase women’s talent and their creative contributions is essential if the record business wants to reach equality.” 
The “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” report also examined Grammy nominations in five popular categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Producer of the Year. Women Grammy nominees have increased with time, representing 28.1% of nominees for 2021 compared to 13.4% overall from 2013-2021. 
For more information, check out the 2021 report “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” here.
Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She is the founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the leading think tank in the world studying diversity and inclusion in entertainment through original research and sponsored projects.
Dr. Smith appeared at the 2019 Pollstar Live! conference as one of the speakers on the panel “Diversity & Inclusion: What Inclusion Riders Mean for the Touring Community.” Read more here.