The Progress Has Been Paused

Black music executives say that despite promises of greater diversity and inclusion, few advances have been made since Blackout Tuesday

ON MAY 15, CAMEO CARLSON, CEO of the management services company mtheory, took the stage at the Music Biz conference in Nashville to address a room at the JW Marriott that was less than half full. “This is inarguably the most important conversation that will happen at Music Biz,” she said. “And it’s unfortunate that not every registrant of this conference is here as they should be.”

The subject of the panel was the second Music Industry Action Report Card from the

Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), a nonprofit organization founded in 2020 to combat systemic racism in the music business. But the underwhelming attendance at the event would not have surprised the dozen-plus Black executives who spoke for this article.

They all expressed concern or frustration that the push for racial justice in the music business, a popular cause in 2020 and 2021, has stalled, despite the efforts of various task forces and organizations that formed across the industry in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. “All that shit is over,” one Black majorlabel marketing executive scoffs. “That’s the feeling industrywide.” (He and several other executives requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.)

Labels “don’t really want change,” adds Ray Daniels, a former major-label A&R executive who runs R.A.Y.D.A.R. Management and hosts the Gauds Show podcast. “They want quiet.”

In the live-music business, BMAC noted, “Black people were systematically shut out for decades”; Mari Davies, vp of talent and booking for Live Nation Urban, told Billboard that there hasn’t been “enough change, enough new faces.”

Some assessments of the industry’s drive for racial equality were more restrained. While Shawn “Tubby” Holiday — another longtime major-label A&R executive and BMAC cofounder — is “disappointed there weren’t that many changes overall when it comes to minorities getting bigger positions or having bigger voices,” he adds that “there was some improvement.” Notably, “a lot of companies were willing to talk about how they can make improvements, and they were open to change.”

And BMAC co-founder/co-chair Willie

“Prophet” Stiggers contends “change is showing up incrementally.” BMAC’s first report, released in 2021, gave the music industry “barely passing” grades; several companies did better this time around. “There are real initiatives on the ground,” Stiggers says. “There are real champions inside these buildings.” He points to new projects like the Academy of Country Music’s OnRamp program, which offers a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month to 20 Black artists, as well as mentorship opportunities.

In 2020, the major-label groups all hired executives to aid their diversity and inclusion efforts and announced the creation of large funds ($100 million in the case of Sony Music and Warner Music Group, $25 million in the case of Universal Music Group) that would give money to organizations focused on equity and advocating for marginalized populations. None of the labels’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leaders were

“It put a target on my back that I didn’t ask for. It felt like, ‘You cause trouble because you speak up.’ ”

—RAY DANIELS, AUTHOR OF “DEAR WHITE

MUSIC EXECUTIVES” LETTER

available for interviews. Sony said last year that it has committed over $70 million to nearly 450 organizations — $30 million from Sony Music and the rest from other parts of the corporation — and “nearly half of the organizations are dedicated to supporting Black communities.” Warner said it allotted $25.5 million in “grant commitments,” and Universal noted it has given to 270 organizations.

And yet: UMG senior vp of people experience Natoya Brown told the Music Biz audience during another panel discussion, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: What Now?,” that there is “fatigue” around the word “diversity.” “People,” she said, “are running away from the word.”

On top of that, Naima Cochrane, the BMAC board member who authored the latest report card and talked attendees at the Music Biz panel through its findings, says that “one of the reasons that #TheShowMustBePaused” — which was the catalyst for the work stoppage on “Blackout Tuesday,” June 2, 2020 — “had so much weight was because Black music is such a large part of the music industry.” While R&B/ hip-hop remains the genre market-share leader, its share of consumption fell from 27.7% in 2021 to 26.8% in 2022, according to Luminate. If that number continues to slip, Cochrane says, “our voice becomes a little less urgent” for profit-focused companies. (A representative for the co-founders of #TheShowMustBePaused, Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, said they “weren’t available at press time.”)

A recurring complaint raised by the Black executives who were interviewed is the absence of transparency and accountability when it comes to labels’ diversity and inclusion efforts. “Labels don’t give up a lot of information,” Cochrane told the crowd at Music Biz. “You can’t get access to look at contracts. You don’t necessarily know demographic breakdowns.”

BMAC collates publicly available information, which is limited, to assemble its report. The organization also sends a survey to each music company it grades. The questionnaire seeks additional information that’s not in the public domain, but Cochrane says the response rate was low.

And even if a company receives a low grade on the report card, it doesn’t suffer a penalty unless there’s a public outcry. As of this writing, no uproar has occurred; there wasn’t even much media coverage of the latest BMAC release. “There’s nothing that is pushing [music companies] to make systemic change within their organizations if there is no negative financial or business impact,” says one Black streaming executive.

Some artists and their teams are trying to add accountability to contract negotiations. Ty Baisden, a manager and co-founder of Colture (which stands for Can Our Leverage Teach Us Real Equity), recently shopped a deal with his client Brent Faiyaz to all the majors. Faiyaz has over 700 million on-demand streams, giving him a fair amount of leverage in negotiations.

Baisden says he sent out a deal proposal including “a clause that said that for every term in his contract, Brent has to be allowed to control $2 million out of your social justice fund to invest back into the Black community.” But, he adds, “Every single major label cut that part of the deal out when they sent back the proposal.” (The R&B singer partnered with UnitedMasters instead.) “We’re in year three” since Floyd’s murder, Baisden says. “What type of progression have we seen?”

In 2020, Daniels, then senior vp of A&R at Warner Records, penned an incisive, widely circulated letter titled “Dear White Music Executives” about the many ways racism permeates the industry. Initially, he kept his identity secret. Later, he decided to come forward as the author. Now, Daniels tells Billboard, “I wish I didn’t write the letter. I wish I didn’t stand on it. If I didn’t, my life would be coasting right now. It put a target on my back that I didn’t ask for. It felt like, ‘You cause trouble because you speak up.’ ” Daniels’ deal with Warner was not renewed.

(The company declined to comment.)

After a beat, he softens his stance. “Years from now, people tell me I’ll be happy that I wrote it,” he says. “I just haven’t got there yet.”

Before Carlson and Cochrane spoke at the Music Biz panel, BMAC placed copies of the 41-page report card on every seat in the large room. After it wrapped, event staffers went from chair to chair, filling their arms with orphaned reports.