Is the Music Business Slipping on Its Pledge to Diversity?

Late afternoon on May 15, Cameo Carlson, CEO of the management services company mtheory, took the stage at the Music Biz conference in Nashville to address a room that appeared less than half full. “This is inarguably the most important conversation that will happen at Music Biz,” she said. “And it’s unfortunate that not every registrant of this conference is here as they should be.”

The subject of the panel was the latest Music Industry Report Card from the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), a non-profit organization founded in 2020 to combat systemic racism in the music business. Inside the JW Marriott in Nashville, Naima Cochrane, who authored the latest report, talked attendees through its findings. BMAC had printed enough copies of the 41-page document to place one on each seat in the large event room; as the panel wrapped, event staffers went from chair to chair, filling their arms with orphaned reports.

The underwhelming attendance that Carlson noted during her remarks would probably not have surprised more than a dozen Black executives who spoke for this article. They all expressed concern or frustration that the push for racial justice in the music business, a popular cause in 2020 and 2021, has stalled, despite the efforts of various task forces and organizations that formed across the industry in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. “All that shit is over,” one Black major-label marketing executive scoffs. “That’s the feeling industrywide.” (He and several other executives requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.)

Labels “don’t really want change,” adds Ray Daniels, a former major-label A&R executive who runs R.A.Y.D.A.R. Management and hosts The GAUDS Show podcast. “They want quiet.”

In the live-music business, BMAC noted, “Black people were systematically shut out for decades”; Mari Davies, vp of talent and booking for Live Nation Urban, told Billboard in May that there hasn’t been “enough change, enough new faces.”

Some assessments of the industry’s drive for racial equality were more restrained. Shawn “Tubby” Holiday — a longtime major-label A&R executive, BMAC co-founder and manager at Full Stop — is “disappointed there weren’t that many changes overall when it comes to minorities getting bigger positions or having bigger voices.” Still, “there was some improvement” in terms of promotions, he says. Plus “a lot of companies were willing to talk about how they can make improvements, and they were open to change.”

And BMAC co-founder/co-chair Willie “Prophet” Stiggers contends “change is showing up incrementally.” “There are real initiatives on the ground,” Stiggers says. “There are real champions inside these buildings.” He points to new projects like the Academy of Country Music’s OnRamp program, which offers a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month to 20 Black artists, as well as mentorship opportunities.

There are other efforts ongoing. Carlson was at Music Biz to discuss the Equal Access Development Program, which aims to elevate members of underrepresented communities in country music. And in 2020, the major-label groups all hired executives to aid their diversity and inclusion efforts and announced the creation of large funds — $100 million in the case of Sony Music and Warner Music Group, $25 million in the case of Universal Music Group — that would give money to organizations focused on equity and advocating for marginalized populations. (None of the labels’ diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] leaders were available for interviews.)

Sony said last year that it has committed over $70 million to nearly 450 organizations — $30 million from Sony Music and the rest from other parts of the corporation — and close to half of those are focused on Black communities. Warner said it allotted $25.5 million in “grant commitments,” and Universal noted it has given to 270 organizations.

And yet: UMG senior vp of people experience Natoya Brown told the Music Biz audience during another panel discussion, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: What Now?,” that there is “fatigue” around the word “diversity.” “People,” she said, “are running away from the word.” Ryan Butler, the Recording Academy’s vp of diversity, equity & inclusion, noted on the same panel that “the amount of people losing their DEI jobs” this year seems roughly similar to the amount of hires in the field in 2020.

“People may have DEI fatigue,” Cochrane acknowledges. “But the reality is people have to be prepared to walk and chew gum at the same time. This cannot be a temporary thing.”

In addition to potential “fatigue,” Cochrane says “one of the reasons that #TheShowMustBePaused” — which was the catalyst for the work stoppage on “Blackout Tuesday,” June 2, 2020 — “had so much weight was because Black music is such a large part of the music industry.” While R&B/hip-hop remains the genre market-share leader, its share of consumption fell from 27.7% in 2021 to 26.8% in 2022, according to Luminate. If that number continues to slip, Cochrane says, “our voice becomes a little less urgent” for profit-focused companies. (A representative for the co-founders of #TheShowMustBePaused, Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, said they “weren’t available at press time.”)

A recurring concern raised by the Black executives who were interviewed was the absence of transparency and accountability when it comes to music companies’ diversity and inclusion efforts. “Labels don’t give up a lot of information,” Cochrane told the crowd at Music Biz. “You can’t get access to look at contracts. You don’t necessarily know demographic breakdowns.”

BMAC collates publicly available information, which is limited, to assemble its report. The organization also sends a survey to each music company it grades. While the questionnaire seeks additional information that’s not in the public domain, Cochrane says the response rate was low.

But even if a company receives a low grade on the report card, it doesn’t suffer a penalty unless there’s some sort of outcry. “There’s nothing that is pushing [music companies] to make systemic change within their organizations if there is no negative financial or business impact,” says one Black streaming executive.

“People need to be held accountable,” agrees David Linton, a longtime major-label executive who now serves as chairman of the Living Legends Foundation. “But how do you hold them accountable?”

Some artists and their teams are trying to build accountability into their contract negotiations. Ty Baisden, a manager and co-founder of Colture (which stands for Can Our Leverage Teach Us Real Equity), recently shopped a deal with his client Brent Faiyaz to all the majors. Faiyaz has over 700 million on-demand streams so far this year, giving him a fair amount of leverage in negotiations.

Baisden says he sent out a deal proposal including “a clause that said that for every term in his contract, Brent has to be allowed to control $2 million out of your social justice fund to invest back into the Black community.” But, he adds, “Every single major label cut that part of the deal out when they sent back the proposal.” (The R&B singer partnered with UnitedMasters instead.) “We’re in year three” since Floyd’s murder, Baisden says. “What type of progression have we seen?”

In 2020, Daniels, then senior vp of A&R at Warner Records, penned an incisive, widely circulated letter titled “Dear White Music Executives” about the many ways racism permeates the industry. Initially, he kept his identity secret. Later, he decided to come forward as the author.

Now, Daniels tells Billboard, “I wish I didn’t write the letter. I wish I didn’t stand on it. If I didn’t, my life would be coasting right now. It put a target on my back that I didn’t ask for. It felt like, ‘You cause trouble because you speak up.’” Daniels’ deal with Warner was not renewed. (The company declined to comment.)

After a beat, Daniels softens his stance. “Years from now, people tell me I’ll be happy that I wrote [the letter],” he says. “I just haven’t got there yet.”

Additional reporting by Gail Mitchell.