Doctoral Researcher, Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity
With 25 years’ experience in the music industry, Vick Bain is no ordinary PhD student, but she is perfectly positioned to research women’s careers in music and give expert evidence to the UK Government’s report on Misogyny in music.
“In the UK, only 20% of artists who are signed to a record label are women. That's despite the fact that the ratio of women to men studying music performance degrees is nearly 50/50,” says Vick Bain. “Yet the record label industry scratches its head and says why haven't we got enough women? I want to really dig down into that.”
Ms Bain is Board Director at the Independent Society of Musicians and the founder of The F-List for Music, a non-profit directory of female musicians that also conducts training, events and research. She has previously worked as CEO of the British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors, now known as the Ivors Academy.
Ms Bain is currently working on a PhD looking at women's careers and in the UK music industry at the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. She has also given expert evidence to the UK Government Women and Equalities Committee, contributing to their recent Misogyny in Music report.
Ms Bain’s research is based on in-depth interviews with 49 women and one non-binary person who are musicians or music executives. She explains: “They spoke to me confidentially, often telling me things that they'd never told anybody else. Reputation is critical in the music industry and if you complain, then you get punished.”
“These are people working across genres, from classical and jazz to pop and grime. What's really fascinating is that they are all experiencing the same thing. The main themes that are emerging are about power and control.”
A pervasive issue
She continues: “Regardless of whether they’ve never had a record deal or they’ve had a number one hit and won a Grammy, they all articulate experiences of having their careers controlled in multifaceted ways.”
“There's a lot less protection for women in the music industry. There's no employment legislation to protect musicians who are under record label investment. You're not an employee of the record label. These are purely financial transactions. Lots of women talk about the absolute control that the labels can have over their careers, how they look and the sort of music they produce. Numerous women eventually just give up and exit the system.”
“There is also physical and sexual harassment, which of course is all about power and control as well. Many of my interviewees told me about serious incidents that have happened to them within the business. This includes sexual assaults, spiking, rapes, hassling, bullying, threatening, even proposals of marriage in exchange for record deals. And saying no means the end of your career.”
“The gender pay gap in the music industry is significant. I’ve heard from women who know that men who are equal to them have better job titles and earn significantly more. I’ve also heard from women who are signed musicians, but are on less favourable royalty contracts than the men in the same band.”
“I hear about these experiences repeatedly and yet nobody dares say anything. The few times that women do come forward, they are vilified in the press. Look at people like Lily Allen who are made out to be unhinged, and their careers suffer as a consequence.”
“These are the issues that I’ve been explaining in my responses to the government inquiry.”
Finding solutions
“There's lots the music industry can do to improve, but also there's a lot that government can do.” Ms Bain says that she agrees with the report’s recommendations to strengthen equality legislation to include freelancers, and she would also ensure record labels have a duty of care towards their signed artists. The report has recommended expanding the scope of the Equalities Act to protect musicians from ‘third-party’ harassment. “If you are a woman performing on stage and you get sexually harassed, which is extremely common, the people who put those gigs on have no responsibility whatsoever,” she explains.
“And I support the recommendation to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of discrimination and harassment, which are common and enforce a culture of silence.”
“Finally, I would also emphasise the importance of research because there's huge evidence gaps which still need to be explored and investigated to help us address this inequality.”
Listen to Vick Bain discussing the Misogyny in Music report on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.