An Annenberg Inclusion Initiative on the diversity of the U.S. music business across examined the rank and titles of 4,060 executives across 119 companies in the music space.
Those organizations spanned 6 categories of the music business: 1) music groups, 2) labels/label groups, 3) publishing, 4) radio, 5) streaming and 6) live music and concert promotion.
Of the 70 major and independent companies , 86.1% of top executives (e.g., CEO/Chair/President) were men, and 86.1% were White. All 10 BIPOC top executives ran independent companies. 2 were women of color. 3 top executives were Black.
Looking at the 9 major music companies (SME, UMG, WMG, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Cumulus, Audacy, Live Nation, AEG Presents) across categories (music groups, streaming, radio, live music and concert promotion), 100% of the top executives were white. 1 was female.
Of 4,060 executives at the VP level and above across 119 companies, 7.5% were Black. There were 17.7 white male executives to every 1 Black female executive.
