Further written evidence from the F-List for Music CIC [MiM0045] [MiM0034]

1 Introduction

1.1 This submission is a supplement to the written evidence submitted by The F-List for Music CIC (“The F-List”) in 2022,[1] and the oral evidence given to the Women’s and Equalities Committee by Ms Vick Bain, on 8 February 2023.[2] Specifically, this follow-up submission aims to offer some additional research that we have become more cognisant of since our submission last July and also in response to the issues or direct questions posed by the Members of the Committee, during the hearing on 8 February 2023.

1.2 The co-authors for this supplement rely on, defer to and are grateful for the expertise of their fellow F-List Directors, Ms Saskhia Menendez[3] (for Section 2) and Professor Sophie Daniels[4] (for Section 3).

2 Transgender Musicians and Transmisogyny: A Gap in Research

2.1 The F-List for Music is a trans-inclusive, and gender-expansive collective. Whereas we have confirmed our trans-inclusiveness before, we wanted to stress the gap in the evidence-collection and research-based interventions, specifically related to trans women because we have identified this as further gap in the submissions to this inquiry. In most studies in the music industries, the gender categories will include men, women, and possibly, non-binary people. The category or women is not broken down further, rendering the evidence from trans women, even when collected, invisible. At The F-List we have recognised this gap and have appointed Ms Saskhia Menendez to join The F-List Board of Directors and better guide our evidence-based activism in this area.

2.2 According to Ms Menendez, “it is important to acknowledge and address the ways in which trans women experience misogyny, and work towards creating a more inclusive music industry that is an accepting industry for both women and transwomen. This includes educating others of the experiences of trans women in music, actively challenging transmisogyny when its encountered, and by creating new policies, as well as supporting policies and initiatives that also promote inclusivity and equality. Trans women are women and should be treated as such.”

2.3 Ms Menendez also explains the types of behaviours that transmisogyny can take: “misogyny can be directed at trans women because of their identity, this is referred to as transmisogyny and comes in various forms including:

• Discrimination and violence (discrimination purely for one’s gender identity).
• Objectification (often objectified and sexualised).
• Exclusion (from women only spaces to reinforce that transwomen are not women).
• Misgendering (using incorrect gender, name, pronouns can be invalidating and very hurtful).”

2.4 The F-List echoes and relies on the evidence and expertise offered by Ms Menendez in that the types of transmisogyny listed in 2.3, “all take place currently in the music industry, and more must be done to ensure trans women are heard as well as treated equally and fairly. We are also often misrepresented in mainstream media, and there are lots of misconceptions of what it means to be a transwoman in today’s society.”

2.5 The research gap in data collected is in urgent need of repair. The evidence we do have, either from working with transwomen in the industries, or from some scholarship on women in music more generally, confirm that there are significant barriers and threats, which we need to understand better. To illustrate, a recent publication has shed light on the composer Wendy Carlos, a transwoman, who is well-known for her compositions in music (featured in films like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange).[5] Despite her commercial success, the record label re-released her compositions, after her transition, under her deadname,[6] which was possible because of the record label’s ownership of intellectual property rights in the music. Carlos now uses intellectual property rights to stay out of the public eye. For her, it was the obsession by the media and the industries, on her trans-ness that was the most harmful,

“Carlos talks of her fear – of the moralists who will judge her, of an industry that might no longer take her seriously, and is candid about her earlier memories: ‘I remember being convinced I was a little girl, not knowing why my parents didn’t see it clearly. I didn’t understand why they insisted on treating me like a little boy.’”[7]

“[s]he is wary of the press, who have been disrespectful, focused on her gender – or, I suspect a worse crime in Carlos’s eyes – her transness. (On her website is a ‘Black Leaf’ award system, for those who have been cruel to her.) The record company continued to release albums under her deadname, even on reissues of earlier work, despite her transition.”[8]

“Wendy Carlos has only ever wanted to make music and live the authentic life she is entitled to; to have her work stand alongside her contemporaries without constant footnoting in relation to her transition.”[9]

3 Music Written by Women: Anecdotal Evidence and the Research Gap

3.1 One of the questions that was asked by the Chair, Caroline Noakes, during the hearing on 8 February 2023, was “Has there been any research done to indicate that women write different types of lyrics, and is it quantifiable?”[10] To add to the response and lived experience already offered by Vick Bain during the hearing,[11] this is a question that The F-List members have reflected on during their many decades of experience and can anecdotally confirm that music written by women is characteristic of women. Although there are several ongoing projects exploring this subject-matter,[12] this again falls in a research area, which is severely under-researched. It is very telling that it was only in 2022 that the UK saw the appointment of their first woman among the Professors of Songwriting. Professor Sophie Daniels is not only the first woman to join this chorus, but to date remains the only female professor of songwriting in the UK.

3.2 Sophie Daniels is the Associate Professor in Songwriting and the Head of Songwriting at Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP),[13] in London. Professor Daniels is a founder of Songwriting in Higher Education in the UK having started the first Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Songwriting in 2010. She has led accredited programmes and songwriting modules since 2005. Professor Daniels teaches as a guest lecturer across the UK, Europe and the US and now runs the world’s biggest Masters Programme in Songwriting (with ICMP in London). Professor Daniels works closely with the Songwriting Studies Research Network (SSRN) which is an international network connecting songwriting industry and education. Her work is predominantly within UK and for the purposes of this report Professor Daniels prepared comments on songwriting within the UK, which are reproduced in the sections below. Prior to working full time in education, Professor Daniels worked in the UK Music industry for the major record labels Sony Music and S records (now known as SyCo). Professor Daniels also has the experience as a professional songwriter for approximately ten years. Finally, Professor Daniels has been writing songs for just over forty years.

3.3 Do Songwriters of Different Genders Produce Different Songs? Speaking from her experience as a songwriter and co-writer in the industry, and more recently as a writing artist and from working with thousands of songwriting students over an eighteen-year period, Professor Daniels finds it clear that it is the case that different genders tend to write songs about different types of content. Equally as important, perhaps even more so in her view, is that different genders tend to write about the same content in different ways and using different language. Professor Daniels bases her observations and conclusions on the evidence she collated to support this analysis, submitted to this inquiry. Unfortunately, and as stated at the start, there is a severe research gap in this area and more research is needed. Not found elsewhere, and submitted as Appendix 1, Professor Daniels prepared a table to evidence the content of the songwriting students work at ICMP over an eight-year period since the Masters Songwriting launched in 2016.[14]

3.4 Masters Songwriting students write about all kinds of different things. It is a premise of their programme of study that they must do so by responding to different briefs. They write over fifty songs in one year on the programme. When they get to their final project, they choose to create a long form song project through Practice as Research on any topic they choose. This must be something that has sufficient depth for them to both research and aim to create something approaching new knowledge, and certainly achieve the goals of independent research. Looking at the tables,[15] there is a clearly emerging theme, which is that songwriters are tending to write about their own lives, identities and lived experiences. This is typical for both genders. Female writers are often tending to write with the experience and identity of being female in mind as explicitly stated in their project titles. Most of this work could be described as auto-ethnographic. Professor Daniels argues that most of the songwriting work is auto-ethnographic, perhaps not in the pure sense, but in spirit. In any case, the content explored is specific to the writer/researcher, and so we only get ethical and valued research content if we have it from the input, language, and narrative of the individuals themselves. Therefore, if we want a balanced picture of any value, we need a balance of gender representation in songwriting.

3.5 Why We Write Songs Research Project. Professor Daniels offers further comments from the perspective of her current and ongoing research project in partnership with the SSRN, entitled “Why We Write Songs.” Professor Daniels is exploring together with her international songwriting community, the different motivations for songwriting. This project is still live, and the findings are not yet final. That notwithstanding, Professor Daniels can already confirm that songwriting as a wellbeing tool is growing rapidly across the world amongst all types of practice and including within commercial songwriting communities. Whilst wellbeing songwriting is different to Therapeutic Songwriting, which is a clinical practice, it shares much common ground and it is worth noting that over 80% of music therapists, those who may currently participate in therapeutic songwriting, are female[16]. Even in 2022 research shows that only 15% of commercial songwriters in the UK are female, which is a number that has remained the same from 2020.[17] Whilst songwriters on community projects and in amateur spheres are of all genders, the writers contributing song lyrics into the public consciousness via commercial projects are most likely to be men.

3.6 During her research, Professor Daniels conducted roundtable discussions with different communities of songwriting practice. Professor Daniels ran two with well-known songwriters across different types of practice: the first, which featured all men; and the second, which included only women. The panels included No 1 UK artist Frank Turner and the UKs most successful non performing female songwriter Miranda Cooper along with Grammy nominee Mary Gauthier and others. The comparison of the two panels evidences clear differences with the women more focused on self-exploration, healing, sharing stories and community research, whereas the men focused on self-actualisation and individual visions of success. The round table discussions continue to be available for viewing, and analysis.[18]

3.7 Women Writing within Hip Hop Music. Hip Hop is currently the biggest selling single music genre in the UK.[19] It is also continually under the spotlight for misogynistic lyrical content. Hip Hop and associated genres typically have some of the worst statistics for equal gender representation in the UK.[20] However, there was and is a strong historical tradition of women writing within this and associated genres, and in fact women were amongst the founders of Hip Hop. It was only later that men came to comprehensively dominate the genre.

3.8 From the beginning of Hip Hop, women have been involved. In fact, “Grandmaster Flash recalls that, ‘back in the day,’ there were more female crews than male, though far fewer of them were able to break into the recording side.”[21]

3.9 When writing in this genre, women write varied, complex content:[22] “Sister Souljah, who was known as the “minister for education’ for rap group Public Enemy, rapped with a feminist agenda for social transformation and social justice.”[23] Analysis of the tables compiled by other researchers,[24] according to Professor Daniels, demonstrates clear differences between male and female subject-matter in these genres. The songs cover topics such as: female community, pride in being a woman, raising children, believing in feminine beauty, criticising sexist double standards and more.

3.10 Songwriting Canon: Gender and Subject-Matter. The data across music and songwriting industry clearly demonstrates the marginalisation of women. Professor Daniels however points to an important research gap: how is the song content affected, when the song is performed by a woman, but written by one, or more men. This is not uncommon in the industry, but the research is lacking in this area.

3.11 When women are the writing artists, we can see clearly that the subject-matter is very often different. Professor Daniels based her observation on a further analysis of lists, collected by music researchers, of female songwriting artists and examples of their work including different genres and different levels of success.[25] Obvious examples of well-known female artists writing about the female experience would include for example, Kate Bush (numerous works but especially ‘The Kick Inside’) and Tori Amos writing about sexual violence (‘Me and A Gun’).[26]

3.12 Recent independent songwriting artist examples of work would include ‘The Art Of Losing’ from The Anchoress. Her record was listed in multiple music and mainstream press as being a Top Ten Album of 2020. Nevertheless, this is an Independent release, and the Anchoress did not release this work under a traditional record label. This album contains songs about sexual violence and miscarriage. Another example are the works by Hannah Rose Platt on her third album, now signed to Xtra Mile. She released a single for the 2018 International Women’s Day discussing sexual violence.

3.13 There are potentially millions of female artists and songwriters. Professor Daniels, as the expert in songwriting, notes that when we start to list them and their work, we can easily see themes emerging that are not and indeed could not be represented by male songwriters.

3.14 Songwriting is an important tool for giving voice to feelings and experiences which are shared, and it is important, as in all art forms, that people are reporting on their own experiences. Crucially however, Professor Daniels argues and warns that for men to write the emotional life stories of women, or even co-write them without appropriate boundaries in place, which is common practice in commercial songwriting with artists, is unethical. “Creating a song can be regarded as an analogy for life itself. People are constantly creating their narratives.”[27] 

3.15 Commercial Songwriting as a Co-Writer and Gender. There is no one way to write about a subject and no set thing that anyone should or does write songs about. However, many of the pop songs we hear are about universal and easily transferrable life experiences, typically about forming and then conducting relationships with a significant other or ‘love interest.’ With that in mind, Professor Daniels considers two different songs which are in the popular consciousness by Ed Sheeran, one of the UKs biggest songwriting artists. Like most writing artists, when Sheeran is creating material for himself to perform, he will nearly always collaborate with a co-writer and the data shows us that 85% of this time, this will be a man.[28]

3.16 Consider the lyrics of the two songs: first, Ed Sheeran’s 2017 Hit ‘Shape of You,’ which was until recent times, the most streamed song in history,[29] and which was co-written with UK songwriter Steve Mac,[30] and second, and in contrast, the lyrics to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ which won a Grammy award in 2016 and was co-written with UK female songwriter Amy Wadge.[31] Whilst ‘Shape Of You’ details a one night stand based on physical attraction, ‘Thinking Out Loud’ details planning for a lasting long term love affair based on sharing a life together.[32]

3.17 Professor Daniels further considers the lyrics of all One Direction songs, where some were co-written in all-male writer teams, (as example, ‘One Thing’ co-written by Savan Kotecha, Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub), which can be contrasted with lyrics of ‘Little Things’ co-written with the UK female songwriter Fiona Bevan.[33] One Direction lyrics were the source of information about male/female love relationships on which a generation of girls grew up and the content of their songs was and is extremely outdated and problematic, according to the views of Professor Daniels, who joins the feminist critique of the content. Some would view them as misogynistic. Misogynistic lyrical content is certainly not restricted to Hip Hop and associated genres (see also Section 4 below).

3.18 Professor Daniels remains at the disposal of this committee and any further questions they might have in this subject-area. Professor Daniels is prepared to write a fuller report and conduct further research to assist in this enquiry. It is Professor Daniels’ view, as one of the very few professors of songwriting in the world, and the only female professor of songwriting in the UK, that the way to address issues with misogynistic lyric is not through censorship. Censorship will work against all songwriting industries: commercial, wellbeing and therapeutic, as well as amateur. Instead, Professor Daniels recommends that to correct the problems of misogyny in music lyrics, we must dedicate our efforts and resources to encourage gender balance and equal representation of all genders in the music industry in every way we can. This would also open new types of applications for songwriting which would create an industry, income and encourage wellbeing as well as working to create new markets within popular music.

3.19 Thoughts from Adele. Professor Daniels offers some concluding thoughts by considering the works of Adele. Adele commented the following, when asked about her recent international album ’30:’ “[the album is about] ... ‘divorce, babe, divorce!’ … music is my therapy. I'm never going into the studio to be like, 'Right, I need another hit.' It's not like that for me … I don't like being a celebrity at all, and they got to talk about my story like they knew it. And they didn't. This is my story. I feel like it's me taking back my narrative.”[34] The themes here are clearly embedded in her lived experience as a woman, who experienced divorce, motherhood, and single parenthood.

3.20 Professor Daniels views songs as a particularly human art form. Archaeological and neurological research has recently provided evidence to show that we have created songs for as long as we have existed as a human race.[35] It is important, helpful, and entertaining for humans to hear all types of content represented through song. Song content that reflects real lives, from the point of view of those that have lived them, is vital in terms of our individual and shared wellbeing narratives. Surely that must reflect all of society, not simply the male experience. This strikes at the core of feminist thought: the men are not the default universal human experience. And that should be reflected in the music we all listen to.

3.21 At The F-List we took the question of the music made by women to our members. In preparation of the World Intellectual Property Day, which the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) celebrates annually on 26 April, and is in 2023 dedicated to “Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity”[36] we asked two questions: first, “what do you write songs about;” and second, “why do you create music?” As we suggest, lyrics made by women and more broadly, music made by women is representative of their lived experience. To understand this, The F-List Gender in Music Research Hub[37] members remain committed to collecting this evidence and fill the significant research gap. For now, however, we offer some quotes below:

“I write music to heal and connect.”

“I write music because it physically makes me feel wonderful. Whether the song is happy or sad makes no difference it helps me address my inner feelings and things I cannot put into words. It provides me with relief and makes me feel wonderful to create. It helps me get over things or get under them - as a form of therapy or understand myself better.”

“I write music because I believe it can save and change lives. From the smallest smile to the biggest leap of faith. From reaching someone struggling with their mental health to being the song to celebrate the best day of someone’s life.”

4 Misogyny in Music Lyrics: A Very Old Tradition (Opera, Folk Music)

4.1 During the formal session on 8 February 2023, Kim Johnson asked a specific question,[38] on the proposition that when it comes to the scrutiny of music lyrics for misogyny, certain genres are over-policed (i.e., rap music). The F-List wanted to expand on the answer already given by Ms Vick Bain[39] and stress the longevity and history (“tradition”) of misogyny in genres, which are often left unscrutinised in this regard: the Opera and Folk Music.

4.2 Misogyny in opera, in its plots and the portrayal of its female characters has recently begun to be recognised. Excellent discussions in the contemporary cultural press,[40] books such as Opera, the Undoing of Women,[41] and Feminine Endings, Music, Gender and Sexuality,[42] as well as specific academic explorations of the output of individual great composers[43]  to highlight but a few, mean these works are now being reassessed through a feminist lens. Reflecting the patriarchal and misogynistic mores of their age, these studies argue that much of the Western operatic canon has been found to be greatly wanting in terms of equality between the sexes. For three hundred years it was accepted practice to portray women as being subordinate to men. Women who attempted to transgress this position in these operas usually end up punished in some way through severe illness, madness, death (by suicide or murder), banishment or some other severe loss. The librettos of these operas, as reflective of the stories they are telling, are therefore as misogynistic as any contemporary Hip Hop, grime or pop music lyrics. They are perhaps only considered more palatable because they are cloaked in the veneer of respectability assigned to classical music via its Western upper-class patronage and history. 

4.3 Misogyny in lyrics is also not solely contained to classical music. It is equally prevalent throughout the popular music of the working-classes, folk music. There are now several initiatives focused on this issue and wider inequalities in folk music, such as Esperance,[44] They Folk,[45] and the BIT Collective,[46] and podcasts such as Thank Folk for Feminism.[47] Folk music in both the UK, including the separate traditions in the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and also in the parallel development in the New World of the US, has a long heritage of songs written encouraging violence against women,[48] usually representing punishments for the high crime of disobeying their husbands. In the same vein women are often portrayed as stereotypical “scolds,” “nagging,” and “hen-pecking” their husbands[49] for which they presumably deserve the violence meted out.

4.4 There is also a disturbing prevalence of songs celebrating the sexual assault, attempted rape, and rape of women.[50] Many more solemnly outline the suffering of those who gave birth “illegitimately”[51] some of whom had become pregnant as a result of rape. In the folk tradition, as in the society it emerged out of, women had to abide by strict codes of behaviour and if they transgressed, deliberately or otherwise, they bore the consequences, sometimes lethally. The ultimate consequence of misogyny, murder, is glorified in a whole sub-genre called the murder ballad.[52] Often these murders were tales of a man who had murdered the woman they had impregnated. Some of the vast repertoire of songs about women being murdered, and which are still being performed today, are The Cruel Mother, The Twa Sisters, The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter, Pretty Polly, and the Poor Murdered Woman. Sometimes these songs were about real women, immortalised in music, a reflection of the violence of the age. 

4.5 The F-List therefore submits that there is a long history of misogynistic lyrics in songwriting that both transcends social classes and music genres. This phenomenon is not new to contemporary music, nor is it restricted to one particular genre. As feminist music researchers, campaigners and practising musicians, we would like to see the diminishment, if not total abolition of all such misogynistic sentiments in music. That notwithstanding, we also recognise that there is a balance to be struck, as stressed in our original submission, between freedom of creative expression and censorship. The F-List stresses that the answer to this lies in the music industry committing to invest more of its considerable resources into music created by women and gender expansive musicians.

***

We thank the Committee for opening the Call for Evidence and their consideration of our submission, on behalf of The F-List. We further appreciate the opportunity to submit this follow up statement, to complete the prior submitted written and oral evidence given. If there are any questions, regarding our submission, or if there is anything further, we can assist with, please do contact us for additional written, or oral clarifications.

Sincerely,

Vick Bain and Dr Metka Potočnik

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Appendix 1: Subject of Songwriting Masters Finalists

Table 1 PT Cohort Graduated 2022.

Table 2 PT Cohort Graduated 2019.

Table 3 PT Cohort Graduated 2020.

Table 4 FT Cohort Graduated 2020.

Table 5 PT Cohort Due to Graduate in 2023.

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Appendix 2:

Ed Sheeran Lyrics: Contrasting Male- and Female-Cowrites

‘SHAPE OF YOU’ by Ed Sheeran and Steve Mac

The club isn't the best place to find a lover

So the bar is where I go

Me and my friends at the table doing shots

Drinking fast and then we talk slow

Come over and start up a conversation with just me

And trust me I'll give it a chance now

Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox

And then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like

Girl, you know I want your love

Your love was handmade for somebody like me

Come on now, follow my lead

I may be crazy, don't mind me

Say, boy, let's not talk too much

Grab on my waist and put that body on me

Come on now, follow my lead

Come, come on now, follow my lead

I'm in love with the shape of you

We push and pull like a magnet do

Although my heart is falling too

I'm in love with your body

‘THINKING OUT LOUD’ by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge

When your legs don't work like they used to before

And I can't sweep you off of your feet

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks

And darling I will be loving you 'til we're 70

And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23

And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways

Maybe just the touch of a hand

Oh me I fall in love with you every single day

And I just wanna tell you I am

Ed Sheeran Lyrics - Contrasting Male and Female Cowrites

So honey now

Take me into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love right where we are

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