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Welcome back to the show.
Tonight we're talking about women in music,
something I learned a lot about during my singing career
in Canada, which ended far too abruptly.
Sorry.
About.
Let's call the whole thing off, eh?
Oh, we're going to be the flipping toast of Regina.
Go Rough Riders.
While it may seem like superstar women dominate
the music industry, that doesn't reflect
what's actually happening.
REPORTER: In 2021, women are still
fighting to have their fair seat at the table
and even scoring a spot on the charts.
Looking at the last six Grammys,
of the almost 900 nominations, only nine have been women.
REPORTER: There's a report that just came out saying that only
21% of all artists were women.
The lack of opportunities and recognition
in the music industry across all genres
has resulted in women getting paid less, barely
any women executives, and fewer women
on music festival lineups.
Unfortunately, women have been fighting that last battle
for centuries, ever since 1801 to one
when the brilliant musician Lilith Fairchild couldn't
get booked at Stagecoachella.
Although the industry has made strides
toward a more equal gender mix in festivals and on radio,
women are still majorly underrepresented in the studio.
According to the Recording Academy, less than 3%
of producers of popular music are women.
WOMAN: When I was about 14, I would read
the back of my dad's records.
I had never read a woman's name on the back
of a record as the producer or the engineer.
It was always men.
And not just any men, but the kind who don't eat pussy.
In 2020, only four women producers
were credited on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart.
That's actually not so bad when you compare it
to "People's" Sexiest Man Alive Chart which only allows one
sexy man to be alive at a time.
Every year is a bloodbath.
And as you might have guessed, it's
even worse for women of color.
REPORTER: Only nine out of 1,291 producing credits
went to women of color.
There are 180 white male producers to every one woman
of color.
They put a lot of women and people of color
in the performance role and then you go and meet with a label
and it's all white men.
Honestly, there are so many women who engineer and produce
and song write.
They don't get past the gatekeepers in the industry
to have that same type of success that men do.
Sorry, but women are just too emotional to be producers.
You need solid, stable white men, like Phil Spector.
As it stands, white men are overwhelmingly the gatekeepers
to the music business.
They're setting the agenda and standards for pop culture.
When men are the gatekeepers, it allows
fewer women to break through.
For example, in 2020, less than 13% of songwriters were women.
It's just so weird being a young girl going
into the studio and there are like four
guys there looking at you like, what
do you want to write about?
We need different perspectives.
Not that one is better than the other,
but to get different types of songs
you need different types of people involved.
That's why Simon and the Garfunkels
balance each other out so well.
Simon writes about love and the Garfunkels
write about growing up in the authoritarian regime
of Garfunkelton.
Almost one-fifth of the top songs from 2012 to 2017
were written or co-written by just nine male songwriters.
There was a tenth guy, but he dropped out
of songwriting to star in a fifth of all movies.
Making matters worse, there's a lack of women
executives working at the top.
Less than 14% of CEOs, chairs, and presidents
at music companies were women.
Unsurprisingly, fewer women executives hurts women artists.
It certainly played a role in the failed
comeback of my '90s group Celery, Salt, and Peppercorn.
We could have saved so many Canadians
from financial ruin with our song "Let's Talk About Checks."
Women who do manage to break through still
face difficult working conditions
in a deeply sexist industry.
Women deal with gender-based harassment and almost 40%
said they experienced ageism.
It's gotten so bad that Adele's next album
will be titled "Still 30."
The lack of equal gender representation
also encourages a boys will be boys mentality, which
encourages sexism and abuse.
Several women are accusing singer/songwriter Ryan
Adams of sexual misconduct.
REPORTER: Some saying he promised to help their careers,
only to turn his back if they rejected his unwanted advances.
Former chairman and CEO of Epic Records LA Reid
is being accused of sexual harassment
by a former assistant.
MAN: One of the dirty little secrets of the music business
is that there is this kind of disproportionate leveraging
or power and these young, talented,
impressionable, ofttimes females who get taken advantage of.
That is so awful, but somehow the only dirty little secret
of the music industry that anyone ever wants to talk about
is how Paul McCartney and John Lennon
jerked off together one time.
That actually inspired "With a Little Help From My Friends."
Despite the never-ending roadblocks to success,
women are fighting back at every level of the industry.
One artist who's been a successful advocate for herself
and others is Taylor Swift.
Taylor signed a contract with Big Machine Records
at just 15 years old that gave the record label
ownership of her masters.
After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright,
my entire catalog was sold to Scooter
Braun's Ithaca Holdings.
MAN: In 2018, Taylor's deal with Big Machine Records
ended and she joined Universal Music Group.
Her new deal enabled her to own her masters going forward.
Taylor announced a plan to overcome Scooter's purchase
of her masters altogether, by rerecording
her first six albums.
Taylor Swift rerecording her albums
is the greatest thing to happen for me, personally,
and the worst thing to happen to Jake Gyllenhaal.
Taylor has worked to regain control of her music
and served as a voice for other artists to have the same right.
Well, it's amazing to see an artist
use her power in this way.
Most musicians lack the same platform and privilege.
The music industry must expand its commitment
to representation across all levels
and that needs to include equality
for workers of all races and gender identities.
It also needs to ensure everyone's safety
in the process, except for Jake Gyllenhaal's.
Give her back her scarf, Mysterio.
We'll be right back.
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