Published
Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 21:54
- The 37-page report measures the progress the music industry has made since #TheShowMustBePaused.
Black Music Action Coalition has released a new report holding some of the music industry's major companies accountable for their diversity efforts.
The 37-page report, titled Music Industry Action Report Card, assesses how the music industry followed through with their diversity commitments since last year's Blackout Tuesday. On this day, BMC executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas launched #TheShowMustBePaused, an initiative urging music professionals to confront the industry's complicit role in systemic racism.
The report looks at how major labels and streaming services' public commitments towards racial justice have been sustained a year later, examining respective initial commitments towards justice, as well as the execution & follow-up. The report card also grades representation within senior and executive staff and related changes to internal structure.
BMAC Co-President Wilie "Prophet" Stiggers says, "As the noise of last year's protests, social justice engagement and initial vocal support for #BlackLivesMatter and #TheShowMustBePaused begins to quiet down, we’re now looking at who is actually doing the work, who was committed to the movement beyond the moment?"
"Overall, the report reveals that while companies took the generous and needed but relatively easy lift of donating funds or matching employee donations, some with a devised giving strategy," Naima Cochrane, BMAC's report lead explained, "few created mechanisms to tackle and change issues and systems such as talent and promotion pipelines internally."