ACADEMY, BERKLEE & ASU TO STUDY WOMEN IN THE BIZ

The Recording Academy, Berklee College of Music and Arizona State University will conduct a study on women's representation in the American music industry, building on studies conducted two years ago.

They intend to further establish a baseline analysis on women's representation in the industry, learn more about the available talent pool of women in music, and set priorities around music creators and aspects of mentorship. With this partnership, the Academy, Berklee and ASU are committed to increasing the dialog in this space and bringing further examination and exposure to this topic.

"Women are key drivers in the economy and across all business and creative sectors in music, globally, yet we reflect 2% of producers and engineers," said Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at the Recording Academy (pictured).

"It's our responsibility at the Academy to be the change that we seek and inspire progress within the industry. We recognize the important work that our industry colleagues have done in this area and are doubling-down on our commitment to play a more active role in providing solutions to increase the number of women working in this space.”

The new study follows the work of Women in the Mix in 2019 and will build upon the baseline constructed by Berklee's 2019 study, "Women in the U.S. Music Industry: Obstacles And Opportunities," authored by Erin Barra, Director of Popular Music at Arizona State University and Executive Director of Beats By Girlz; Sharon Kramer, Dean of Institutional Research and Assessment at Berklee College of Music; and Becky Prior, Associate Director of Institutional Research at Berklee College of Music. Barra will lead the new study, which is expected to be completed and released in early 2022.

As a result of that study, the Recording Academy is dfor the first time reporting gender representation among Grammy wards nominees: 198 of 853 nominees this year identify as women, representing 23%. "Two years ago, we started our Women in the Mix initiative with the primary goal of raising awareness and had an overwhelming initial response, garnering support from more than 650 of the most influential music people, executives and organizations," said Recording Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr.

"While we are hopeful that we will still see benefit from that effort, we haven’t seen enough progress to date. In order to accelerate our goals, we are excited to partner with the Berklee College of Music and Arizona State University on this study. The results of the research will serve as a guide for much-needed reforms in the industry at-large."