Written evidence submitted by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) (MiM0017)
The MMF are members of UK Music and support their Misogyny in Music submission, but in addition, want to add our own comments from our MMF manager members perspective.
The MMF is the world’s largest professional community of music managers. Since its inception in 1992, the MMF has worked to educate, inform and represent UK managers as well as offering a network through which managers can share experiences, opportunities and information.
Our core purpose is to educate, innovate and advocate. The MMF supports managers’ continuous professional development by highlighting key opportunities to develop and grow. We also provide a collective voice of leadership to help affect change and transparency for a fairer music industry for managers, artists and fans
Our membership stands at over 1200 managers based in the UK with global businesses from those just starting out to representatives of huge international artists such as Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and the Rolling Stones. Our membership currently stands at 38% female. We have made great progress in the last 6 years to reach a 50/50 gender split on our Board. The MMF team is also female-led and the MMF team itself is over 66% female.
Managers come from a diverse range of backgrounds and routes of entry into the profession; many start by helping out friends/relatives who are making music and then take on a management role as their artists also grow. About ⅓ of our membership work in management companies ⅓ are sole traders or individual micro-business and the final third have other jobs/income to supplement their management activity. We continue to recruit members and grow our network so we are truly representative of the wider management community.
The MMF has been very proactive in encouraging and supporting females in our community and are actively anti-misogyny. We offer safeguarding for all of our members as well as trying to set standards for good practices.
However, we do acknowledge misogyny exists within the music industry in many forms. We also especially want to spotlight the often overlooked instances of female managers who have reported being bullied, and in some cases abused, by their male clients as well as others within the industry and feel that there is a need for better support structures and a culture change to address this behaviour.
The MMF Code of Practice governs our membership and explicitly prohibits sexual harassment. It states managers must “Not engage in any acts of sexual harassment including unwanted, unwelcome or uninvited behaviour of a sexual nature, which makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.” We are able to expel members if there is evidence of such behaviour towards a client or others in the industry. However not all parts of the music industry have codes and there is concern about a lack of mechanisms supporting freelancers who may be concerned about retaliation/implications for making complaints.
We also support and promote the MU safe spaces initiatives and sign post members to it, as well as the Help Musicians bullying and harassment helpline which offers professional support and guidance.
We also wish to draw attention to MMF Custodian Diane Wagg’s views on this matter on BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire. MMF Chair Diane Wagg on BBC's Victoria Derbyshire
The feedback from our membership on questions posed in the Misogyny in Music inquiry is insightful and highlighted below.
Question 1. What correlation exists, if any, between misogynistic lyrics and violence against women and girls?
Member responses generally expressed concerns that misogynist lyrics and derogatory language were damaging and called for a cultural shift to address this. There were concerns raised that misogynist lyrics numb senses and expose the current and future generations to the danger of “romanticism and normalising” acts of violence and misogyny.
The MMF supports safeguarding for women and girls , but also supports artistic freedom of the artists and understands the importance of cultural expression through storytelling.
While we don’t want to support a culture of censorship, we want to spotlight the nuances, boundaries and lines are complex and must be thought about deeply.
Ways to address this problem were expressed as active awareness and education for both men and women focusing on a need for cultural change in both acceptability and accountability. The MMF wholeheartedly agree with this.
Question 2. How can they report abuse?
There was an overwhelming feeling of limited routes available to report problems and abuse. While there are helplines available, many felt they didn’t have the courage to report and do not have confidence that reports will be handled correctly or confidentially.
The MMF believes one way to address this lack of options is to create the Independent Standards Authority, which is already in motion within the Creative UK industries. The MMF are actively involved in creating this and supporting the ISA through participating in the Creative UK Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination roundtables. As well as roundtable participation, the MMF have also contributed financially to the creation of Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination training modules.
Question 3. How safe do women and girls feel at live music concerts and festivals?
In regards to safety at festivals and live shows, we had mixed responses, but overall everyone agreed it depends on the genre of music, type of event, venue , atmosphere and fan behaviour. It is felt there is a responsibility of venue owners and promoters to ensure safety by educating staff and promoting safe environments.
The MMF has a safe space policy at our Artist and Manager awards and all of our MMF events. We are aware that genre could be inferred as having a racial bias, which we would not condone.
Question 4. What expectations are there of women working in the music industry compared to men?
Overall respondents felt that women have to work much harder than men to be taken seriously in the music industry and to thrive. There were also comments that women are judged more on their appearance and age. Female managers also reported being regularly mistaken by promoters/stage crew/senior industry figures for assistants, girlfriends etc., rather than artist managers.
Feedback also showed there are clear unequal standards where assertive male managers are considered great champions for their artists, while women managers report being labelled a “b*tch ”or difficult if they are equally assertive. This is further complicated by comments that women managers often feel ignored or pushed aside if “polite and kind”. This creates an unequal and difficult balance.
Female music managers with young children also have challenges with artists/colleagues' expectations in regards to the demands of always being available/on call 24/7 for their clients or in consideration of short notice travel requirements. Many women drop out of music management and move into other more flexible professions at this stage.
The MMF would like to see an environment where women can be both mothers and successful managers. We have been partnering with the Parents in Performing Arts (PiPA) organisation to hold discussions with managers who are parents to raise awareness of the issues) and discuss what support is needed to combine parenthood and a successful management career. Our own Accelerator education programme is gender balanced and cash investment in individuals is often used to address child care barriers.
The MMF supports the UK Music 10 Point Plan, but our members feel there can be more done to address the disparity in senior decision-making roles rather than just mid to entry level. Feedback also stated that education, of both men and women on misogyny in music, are key components to a change of practice for the next and younger generations. In addition whilst the annual gender pay gap reporting for the big companies in the sector is welcome, recent reports from the 3 major labels and promoters show that the gap is increasing not decreasing in recent years. Given how important these companies are for the music industry the lack of women at the top correspondingly sets the culture and influences decisions for the rest of the profession.
Question 5. What steps should the Government and other industry bodies take to tackle misogynistic and sexist attitudes towards women in music?
Some of the many suggested steps to move forward on this are :
• Provide better education and awareness by including more training on sexual harassment and discrimination
• Better reporting options and supporting the creation of an Independent Standards Authority for the Creative Industries. Stronger policies of equality across all professions
• More roles for women in senior management, C-suite and decision making positions
• Not only reporting but acting on the published music industry Gender Pay Gap reporting and its widening margins.
• Changing the stereotypes of who is assumed successful or championed publicly in the music industry
• Create more scholarships, mentorship programmes, grants and funds for women’s development careers in music
The MMF also endorses legislative changed shared and highlighted by the MU
• Introducing the preventative duty in the next parliamentary session.
• Extend the protections relating to discrimination and harassment in the Equality Act 2010 to all freelancers so that they are entitled to the same protections as the wide range of individuals in the workplace who are already protected.
• Reinstate section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 without the three strikes rule to protect all workers from third party harassment.
• Review the limit of two characteristics within Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010, so the law acknowledges that overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination impacts on people who experience sexual harassment.
• Extend limitation periods for discrimination and sexual harassment claims to at least six months.
• Legislate to make NDAs unenforceable for anything other than their original purpose, the prevention of sharing confidential business information and trade secrets.
• Introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting and widen gender pay gap reporting for companies with over 50 employees.
• Supply funding to develop mental health services equipped to deliver culturally appropriate and accessible care.
July 2022