Experiences and Perceptions of Gender in the Australian Music Industry

[PB 20.1 (2019) 8-39] Perfect Beat (print) ISSN 1038-2909 https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.39800 Perfect Beat (online) ISSN 1836-0343

Hannah Fairlamb Bianca Fileborn Experiences and perceptions of gender in the Australian music industry

Hannah Fairlamb is an Adelaide musician and University of Adelaide researcher, currently working on Kaurna coun- North Terrace try in State Government gender policy. She Adelaide SA 5000 is co-founder and co-director of youth music Australia mentoring project Girls Rock! Adelaide, and is [email protected] working towards solidifying this not-for-profit organization in the music industry landscape in South Australia.

Dr Bianca Fileborn is a Lecturer in Criminology Room W606, John Medley Building and DECRA ARC Fellow in the School of Social and School of Social and Political Sciences Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. Her Faculty of Arts current work focuses on public harassment and University of Melbourne victim-centred justice, sexual violence and safety Parkville VIC 3010 at music festivals, and safety and harassment of Australia users of taxi and ride share services. [email protected]

Abstract This article reports results from an online survey (n=207) about experiences and perceptions of gender from those working in the Australian music industry. Taking a feminist approach, theory on gender and hegemonic masculinity is used to discuss power in a gendered context in this industry. Literature shows women and girls experience a range of difficulties in the music industry worldwide, such as negative assumptions about their skill levels. The small body of research on gender and the Australian music industry has discussed topics such as the forgetting of women in Australian popular music history. Results reported in this article show that women’s worst experiences most often related to sexual violence or unwanted sexual advances; and men’s most often related to money. Findings contribute to the field by providing gendered analysis of self-reported data in an under-researched industry.

Keywords: music; gender; sexual harassment; Australia; music industry; popular music

Introduction In December 2017, off the back of the global #MeToo anti-sexual violence movement and in the shadow of Australian female punk band Camp Cope’s #ItTakesOne campaign seeking to end sexual harassment at music gigs, Australian musicians and industry leaders launched #meNOmore. Signed by high-profile women, LGBTQIA+ people, Indigenous people, and people of colour in the Australian music industry, the open letter said ‘no more’ to the ‘uncountable discrimination, harassment, violence, and the general menace of sexist jargon’ all-too-commonly encountered by these groups (The Brag 2017). While gender inequality is an issue spanning many different industries (Australian Human Rights Commission 2018)—something lucidly illustrated by the #MeToo movement—the #meNOmore campaign, together with emerging research (Cooper, Coles and Hanna-Osborne 2017; Throsby and Petetskaya 2017), illustrates that gender inequality is rife within the Australian music industry. Despite this burgeoning attention to the issues of gender inequality and harassment in the music industry, on the whole these issues remain under- examined within an Australian context: a disparity that this article seeks to address. In this article, we present findings from an online survey of 207 participants working in the Australian music industry which asked about experiences and perceptions of gender in relation to discrimination, inequality and exclusion in this industry. Based on the experiences and perceptions of participants, we argue that gender inequality is perpetuated within the Australian music industry through the presence of sexual harassment and violence, and through the reinforcement of gendered norms that privilege and support men—though these must also be understood as situated within broader societal regimes of gender inequality. There were also notable differences in the extent and nature of negative experiences of the music industry for male and female participants, and we unpack these findings and their implications. Key findings in this space include that the Australian music industry is characterized as a negative place for women and an exclusion- ary ‘boys’ club’; that women are less positive about their experiences in this industry; and that women felt they were treated differently and had missed out on opportunities because of their gender. Significantly, women reported a much more negative experience than men, and related accounts of multiple levels of disadvan- tage and discrimination including high levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence. These findings are significant because they add quantitative and qualitative evidence from both men and women which confirms previous findings that the music industry is a privileged space for men, while demonstrating that there are multiple barriers to success in this industry for those that do not identify as male. Providing a clearer picture of the experiences and perceptions of those working within the Australian music industry will add to the limited research in this area

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. 10 Perfect Beat and increase understandings of the ways in which gender shapes lived experiences of this industry. We move on now to situate this project within existing research on gender, inequality and the music industry before providing an overview of the research methods. We then examine findings from the mixed-methods online survey. In closing, we consider the implications of this research for addressing the ongoing issues of gender inequality, discrimination and sexual harassment within the music industry.

What do we know about gender and the music industry? This work is informed by theoretical contributions on gender and critical masculinities (Budgeon 2014; Bach 2012; Connell 2005; Risman 2004). Gender is a multi- faceted concept, with this term encapsulating social structure and organization, relations of power, and personal identity (Butler 1990; Connell 2005; Risman 2004). We draw on critical and post-structural conceptions of gender in the approach underpinning this work. While we follow a post-structuralist approach that views gender as performative and fluid, we also recognize that gendered performance is both situated within, and actively reconstitutes, structures of power (Connell 2005). Connell’s (2005) work on hegemonic masculinity is instructive here, with this work illustrating that while there are multiple and fluid concepts of what it means to ‘be a man’, hegemonic masculinity is the version of masculinity most revered (and, thus, associated with power and access to resources) in a particular social and cultural context. This last point is a particularly relevant one, as it suggests the need to consider how masculinity operates in a context-specific way. As such, we turn now to examine the literature on gender in the Australian and other Western music industries. Specifically, we consider the gendered organization of music industries in relation to access to power and tangible resources, and the symbolic and cultural construction of gender and reification of particular forms of masculinity.

Access to power and resources Research illustrates that men systematically enjoy greater access to positions of power and other resources within the music industry than women (and likely also LGBTQIA+ people, First Nations people, and people of colour). A recent report released by the Women, Work and Leadership Research Group at the University of Sydney (Cooper et al. 2017) noted that although 45% of qualified musicians and half of those studying music are women, women constitute only one in five song- writers and composers registered with the Australasian Performing Rights Asso- ciation (APRA). The report also stated that

women receive less airplay on Australian radio and are consistently outnum- bered by men on Triple J’s annual countdown of the 100 most popular songs and albums; music festival line-ups are dominated (sometimes entirely) by male artists and male-lead acts; women are significantly less likely to be hon- oured in the music industry’s most prestigious awards including the ARIAs, ‘J’ and AIR awards; women hold only 28 percent of senior and strategic roles in key industry organizations; and there are no women on the boards of ARIA or AIR and women are underrepresented on the boards of all other national music industry peak bodies (Cooper et al. 2017: 2).

The segregation of job roles by gender provides a case in point, with similar patterns observed across other male-dominated industries (Corcoran-Nantes and Roberts 1995; Jones 2017; Denissen 2010; Manhertz 2016; Cech 2013). Roles associated with power, authority, decision-making and creativity are more frequently filled by men, leaving women predominantly in what are regarded as feminized roles (Hesmondhalgh and Baker 2015). This phenomenon is entrenched in the music industry and has been observed extensively in literature (Cooper et al. 2017; Frith and McRobbie 1991 [1978]; Gaar 1992; Raphael 1995; Whiteley 2000; Leon- ard 2007; Donze 2016). Mayhew (2001) noted that

producers, managers, recording engineers, record management have all been dominated by men, while women are more likely to be in lower management and organizational positions, rather [than] other behind-the-scenes ‘creative roles’ such as A&R [artists and repertoire], engineering or producing (Mayhew 2001: 97; additions in brackets mine).

These preconceptions about gendered roles prevent women from gaining equal status with men in the music industry and entrench gender inequalities and binary understandings of the capabilities of men and women. The ‘gender pay gap’ is also particularly pronounced in creative industries more broadly, with research from the Australia Council for the Arts finding that the gender pay gap in the arts sector sits at 25%, compared to 16% across the general workforce (Throsby and Petets- kaya 2017). Gendered patterns in access to power and resources have follow-on consequences for women’s careers in the music industry. For example, Strong and Cannizzo’s (2017: vi) research on Australian women screen composers found that the ‘boys’ club’ nature of industry networks ‘prevented them [women] from achiev- ing their career goals’ (see also Music Victoria 2015). Indeed, the phrase ‘boys’ club’ was used repeatedly in findings made in our research—and we return to this later.

Privilege, social roles and culture While men systematically enjoy greater access to power and resources, research also illustrates the ways in which they harness greater symbolic and cultural capital in comparison to their female counterparts, who are systematically ‘othered’ within

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. 12 Perfect Beat the industry. This is illustrated, for example, though the construction of the ideal- typical artist archetype as masculine, due to associations between masculinity and genius, entrepreneurship and positive aesthetic evaluation (Conor, Gill and Taylor 2015; Miller 2016). Further, Schmutz and Faupel (2010) found that, in depictions of gender in rock journalism, female artists are less likely to be associated with terms such as ‘the greatest’. This finding is also demonstrated in Shaw’s (2012) examina- tion of an online poll run by Australian radio station Triple J in which the public were invited to vote for the ‘hottest 100 [songs] of all time’. Shaw’s analysis found that during the lead-up to the poll, of the 59 album covers chosen to give a potted history of alternative music, none were from records by female artists. This led Shaw (2012) to argue that ‘taste cultures become male-dominated by excluding women from the discourse of greatness’ (2012: 380). Indeed, this can occur to the point where women are left out of the historical record completely, with their contributions erased and forgotten (Strong 2011 and 2014; Reddington 2003). Where women do appear in these historical artefacts, it is often as wives or girlfriends (Glitsos 2017; Strong 2014). The devaluation of women in the industry is also demonstrated through the normative social roles made available to them, which are often ‘marginal, decorative or less creative’ (Cohen 1997: 17). Rather than being centred as legitimate operators, women are seen in the music industry as ‘“outsiders”/“negative reference group”/“the Other”’ (Bayton 1997: 41). A range of roles deemed acceptable for women and girls are, however, available: fan, consumer or audience member (Mayhew 1999), ‘groupie’ or readily available sexual partner (Larsen 2017; Wald 1998), or a peripheral domestic support role such as partner or girlfriend (Glitsos 2017; Leonard 2007; Strong 2014). Press and Reynolds (1995) take this further, discussing the ways that women present as either supporters of or anathema to the ‘rock star’ image. Women may have utility as sycophants, bedmates or passive bodies, but come across as a threat when representing marriage, motherhood or domesticity (Press and Reynolds 1995: 3). Stepping outside of these roles in the music industry can have negative consequences for women and girls as this poses a challenge to the accepted order, demonstrating the persistence of narrow and rigid gender stereotypes. Thus, gender norms and practices in the music industry overwhelmingly benefit (cisgender, heterosexual, white) men, situating them as the default, while women are unable to access this kind of legitimacy. In fact, the positioning of women as ‘other’ in music relegates them to any status except legitimate, often defined not as a musician but a female musician, revealing how far from legitimacy women in the music industry are situated (Faupel and Schmutz 2012). Coates (1997) writes about the discursive use of stereotypes in music to segregate ‘rock’ and ‘pop’ music along gendered lines, where ‘rock is metonymic with “authenticity” while “pop” is metonymic with “artifice”. Sliding even further down the metonymic slope, “authen-

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Experiences and perceptions of gender 13 tic” becomes “masculine” while “artificial” becomes “feminine”’ (Coates 1997: 52; see also Feigenbaum 2005). This lack of access to authenticity and legitimacy for women in music means that men remain privileged by mere association with the higher status of masculinity, yet women are deemed suspect interlopers.

Sexual violence and harassment in the music industry While the issue of gender inequality is generally well-documented within the music industry, the occurrence of sexual harassment and violence is comparatively under-examined. This is somewhat surprising, given that sexual violence is itself deeply intertwined with gender inequality and patriarchal power structures. The occurrence of sexual (and other forms of gender-based) violence is underpinned and enabled by conditions of gender inequality. It is now well-established that social-structural conditions that result in men having greater access to power and resources, adherence to rigid gender norms and stereotypes, and the devaluation of women create conditions in which sexual violence can flourish (VicHealth 2011; Wall 2014). Sexual violence itself reinforces and perpetuates conditions of unequal power. In other words, as Fileborn, Wadds and Barnes (2019) have recently observed, the dominant power structures and social and cultural norms of the music industry mirror the conditions in which sexual violence occurs, and which normalize, minimize and excuse this violence. Despite the entrenched nature of sexual harassment and violence in contemporary Australian society (ABS 2017), there is precious little research considering its occurrence specifically within the Australian music industry. The small body of work that does exist, however, points towards sexual harassment and violence likely being extremely common within the music industry. For example, Music Victoria’s 2015 report on women in the Victorian music industry pointed to sexual harassment and assault being faced by respondents; however no detail is provided on the number of participants who discussed this issue, nor the precise nature of their experiences. Additionally, Strong and Cannizzo’s 2017 study on Australian women screen composers found that 36% of female participants believed that sexual harassment was common in their industry. However, participants in this study did not commonly share first-hand experiences of harassment, making it difficult to know how preva- lent the issue may be. Recent research has likewise begun to illustrate the issue of sexual harassment and assault at music festivals and gigs, though this has tended to focus on the experiences of patrons rather than those working in the industry (see Bows 2019; Fileborn, Wadds and Tomsen 2019; YouGov 2018). Nonetheless, these studies collectively illustrate that sexual harassment and assault are also commonly encountered within the music scene. Together, this small body of work suggests that

Methodology While this evidence provides a strong argument for the presence of normative gender roles and male privilege in the music industry, this article extends this work by providing self-reported survey data from those working within this field in Australia. This research was conducted from a critical feminist viewpoint using a constructionist epistemology, which views knowledge as inherently partial and situated. Such an approach resists the idea that any ‘universal’ or underlying truth about experience can be ‘uncovered’. This project additionally drew on feminist methodologies, particularly in the researchers’ efforts to acknowledge and challenge the imbalance of power between women and men (Beckman 2014), as well as that between the researcher and the researched (Gray et al. 2015). By conducting an anonymous online survey and removing any direct contact with the researcher, this limited the power imbalances that can occur in face-to-face situations, with the intention of empowering respondents to share information. Additionally, in providing blank text boxes and allowing respondents to write freely, the possibil- ity of the researcher misrepresenting respondents’ views was reduced, granting an opportunity for women respondents to ‘turn disadvantaged social positions into powerful intellectual and political resources’ (Harding and Norberg 2005: 2013). Ethics approval was gained through the University of Adelaide Human Research Ethics Committee prior to commencing fieldwork.

Method In February 2017, an online survey was conducted asking participants from the Australian music industry about their experiences and perceptions of gender in this industry. Google Forms was used to collect survey data, as this tool provided data in a spreadsheet format which could be easily analysed. The survey consisted of 20 questions. Of these, the first six identified demographic information about the respondent. The remaining 14 questions included Likert scale responses, free- text responses, and checkbox answers (either yes/no/unsure, or ‘select from the following list’). Participants were asked ‘With which gender do you identify?’ with the option to select ‘male’, ‘female’, or write their own answer in a free-text box. Specific questions included in the survey (and responses to these) are provided in the Results section, below.

Sampling and recruitment The survey sample consisted of people living in Australia, aged 18 and over, and currently working in the music industry, or with significant (five years or more) experience working in the music industry. Five years in the industry was selected as a baseline to ensure respondents had significant experience to draw on. Sam- pling for this survey was non-probability, utilizing snowball and purposive sampling (Walter 2013). However, recruitment was nonetheless limited to individuals who volunteered to take part, and this sample cannot be considered as representative of the broader Australian music industry. The link to the survey was promoted through a Facebook event, and also sent to a prepared list of email addresses for organizations across Australia including radio stations, music publishers, record labels, management and publicity companies, music publications and government and non-government music organizations. Ten responses (five male, five female) were removed from the survey data as they did not meet the criteria of having at least five years’ experience in the music industry. One response was a duplicate and was removed. This left a total of 207 responses.

Data analysis Qualitative responses for each of the four free-text questions were analysed and coded manually, using thematic analysis and inductive coding (Walter 2013). Both overt and covert themes were identified in the written responses. These were then coded into categories (e.g., ‘male power/primacy’, ‘sexism/discrimination’, ‘gender- ing of instruments’) via a spreadsheet, and the categories grouped by their simi- larity, for example the two categories ‘Performance/talent/merit > gender issues’ and ‘Male lack of awareness of any issues’ were grouped into the theme ‘Obscur- ing/glossing over gender’. As there were clear similarities across the four questions, several rounds of grouping and re-grouping occurred before finalizing themes in order to ensure consistency. While many categories and themes overlapped across the four questions, the number of each differed for each question (see Table 1).

Table 1: Number of categories and themes for free-text questions

Question Number of Number of categories themes Do you believe other people are treated differently 52 11 because of their gender? Do you believe you have ever missed out on 35 8 opportunities in the music industry because of your gender? What was the worst thing you have experienced in 91 12 your work in the music industry? Any other comments 61 10

The two overarching topics identified through this analysis are reported in this article, alongside demographic data collected in the same survey. These were: (1) The music industry is a negative place for women, and (2) That the music industry is a ‘boys’ club’.

Results Demographics Of the 207 respondents, 42% identified as female (n=87), 57% as male (n=118) and 1% as non-binary (n=2).1 The majority of respondents (63%) identified as musicians or performing artists, of which 41% were women. All other work categories showed low representation (between 1% and 4%), with 16% (n=31) of respondents choosing the category ‘other’ (here respondents stated roles such as festival producer, industry association employee, publisher, promoter, light- ing technician, sound engineer, photographer and live music venue owner). A number of these respondents (n=13) specified that they worked in more than one role. Of the four respondents who selected ‘administration’ or ‘publicity’ in the demographic section of the survey, all were female, and in qualitative responses, there was anecdotal evidence suggesting a concentration of power in the hands of men in the industry:

‘most of the managers, label executives, producers I have come into contact with are predominantly male. Their assumption [about me] as a female already leads them to believe they have a sense of power over my abilities and skills which therefore has already predetermined or impacted my opportunities’ (Respon- dent #28, female; addition in brackets mine).

There were respondents from all states and territories except Northern Territory and ACT. Western Australia constituted the largest group of respondents at 42% of the total, followed by South Australia (22%) and Victoria (19%). The majority of respondents (52%) were in the 26–35 age bracket, followed by 36–45 (25%), 45+ (12%) and 18–25 (11%). Respondents were also asked about their length of involvement in the music industry, and this ranged fairly evenly from 5–10 years through to more than 20 years. No questions were asked about respondents’ race or disability as this survey focused on respondents’ experiences and perceptions

1. Throsby and Petetskaya (2017) estimate that in 2017 there were 15,400 practising pro- fessional musicians in Australia, and that 45% of these were female. However, in the last three Censuses conducted in Australia, only 29% of those stating their occupation as ‘music profes- sional’ were women (McCormack 2018). Thus, in this survey while a similar proportion of women responded than is estimated to be working in the music industry, more men than women par- ticipated overall.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Experiences and perceptions of gender 17 of gender; however it is acknowledged that the intersections of race, gender, class, ability, sexuality and ethnicity do shape life experiences significantly, identifying multiple avenues for further research.

Key themes A number of themes emerged from the open-text response data gathered from the four free-text response questions. Themes identified for each question are shown in the sections below. These fell into two main themes:

•• The music industry in Australia is a negative place for women; and •• The music industry in Australia is a ‘boys’ club’.

Theme 1: The music industry in Australia is a negative place for women

‘It’s a lot of small things that build up’ (Respondent #45, female).

Different experiences on the basis of gender. Results from this aspect of the survey illustrate stark differences in men’s and women’s experiences of gender in the music industry. Women (57%) were comparatively more likely than men (21%) to view the industry as male dominated (Figure 1). Likewise, women were more likely to indicate that they felt they had been treated differently because of their gender compared to men (91% vs. 38%; see Figure 2), and to say that this differential treatment was negative (76% vs. 16%, see Figure 3). In contrast, male respondents were more likely to say that differential treatment on the basis of gender resulted in positive outcomes for them (51% vs. 5%).

Figure 1: Belief in music industry as male-dominated

Figure 2: Perception of different treatment on the basis of gender

Figure 3: Outcome of different treatment on the basis of gender

When asked if they felt as though people had made assumptions about their abilities based on their gender, more than twice as many women (79%) than men (37%) answered yes (Figure 4). When asked if they felt they had had to work harder than people of a different gender to achieve their goals in the music industry, 72% of women responded yes, but only 4% of men (Figure 5). Already from these responses, the data begins to suggest difficulties for women, and benefits for men. As the participant quote that opened this section suggests, these results illustrate the multiple and cumulative nature of the discrimination and inequalities faced by women in the industry, a finding that becomes further apparent as we continue.

Figure 4: Assumptions about ability, by gender

Figure 5: Level of work required to achieve goals, by gender

Question 12 asked respondents ‘Do you think other people in the music industry are treated differently because of their gender?’ This question was answered strongly in the affirmative, with 84% of men and 91% of women selecting ‘yes’ (see Figure 6). A free-text box was provided for further elaboration. By far the majority of these responses related to the theme ‘negative for women’ (n=84; see Figure 7).

Figure 6: Perception of treatment of others on the basis of gender

Figure 7: Different treatment, themes by gender

The most commonly identified category in this theme was ‘assumptions around women’s level of skill/instrument choice/proficiency/role’ (n=22). This was illustrated through comments such as:

‘Stereotypes are assumed, and female instrumentalists are often viewed as lesser players, consciously or subconsciously’ (Respondent #29, female).

‘Men never have to justify their ability to play an instrument, if you’re not male and mention you make music it is usually assumed you play acoustic guitar, or it is met with the patronising, surprised “oh really!” as if it is a huge shock. At a gear swap meet recently my female band member was asked “so you just get to stand there and hold things?”, and I had an altercation where a sales person did not want to sell me an electric tuning pedal because he thought I was confused as there was no way I could possibly play electric guitar’ (Respondent #3, female). © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Experiences and perceptions of gender 21

Here respondent #3 reports lived experience of the assumed illegitimacy of women as musicians and the authority of gendered stereotypes in the making of such assumptions. These multiple, repeated experiences are cumulative and entrench notions that, for example, a male guitarist is normal, as per Miller’s ‘ideal-typical artist’ (2016), meaning a female guitarist is othered, necessarily a novelty. This con- stitutes a privilege for men in that their competence is assumed, whereas women have to prove themselves competent. Male respondents also described observing these assumptions being made about women, for example:

‘Many female instrumentalists have assumptions made about their abilities before they play’ (Respondent #108, male).

‘Pretty good, for a girl’ (Respondent #155, male).

These responses demonstrate some of the assumptions women face in their work in the music industry due to normative gender expectations. Bourdage (2010) discusses normative gendered binaries in the context of technology, writing that ‘the cultural and technological engineering of the electric guitar has been historically constructed to exclude women’ (2010: 2). This means that women like the respondent above who challenge this by choosing to play a traditionally male-oriented instrument such as electric guitar, pose a threat to established gender norms that support men’s dominance in this field (Bayton 1997). Framing of the use of technologies like electric guitar as masculine reproduces the narrow and stereotypical gendered norms, and reinforces the status quo, ensuring women are disempowered and limited to passive roles.

Missing out on opportunities. Question 13 asked respondents ‘Do you believe you have ever missed out on opportunities in the music industry because of your gender?’ In response, 57% of women (in comparison to 21% of men) answered yes (see Figure 8).

Figure 8: Perception of missed opportunities by gender

A free-text box followed, asking respondents to provide more information if they wished (question 13a). Figure 9 shows themes identified in responses to question 13a.

Figure 9: Missed out on opportunities: themes by gender

The category with the highest number of responses (n=13) relating to missed opportunities was regarding events/venues/spaces that were described as ‘non- male’, ‘female only’, ‘women only’, ‘all-girl’ or ‘feme (sic)/trans/non-binary’; that is, spaces that excluded cisgender men. Notably, all of these responses were made by men. Two dependent categories were identified in these responses, ‘…but this is a positive’ (n=5) and ‘…but this is a negative’ (n=2). These categories illustrated that while some men noted they had missed out on opportunities to play at these events, five of these respondents also stated that they did not have a problem with being excluded from these events as they represented much-needed equity for non-male musicians and bands:

‘Well, there are obviously some female only initiatives, not that I’m complain- ing’ (Respondent #151, male).

‘Some female-only events call for female-only crew. But that’s fine’ (Respon- dent #110, male).

This indicates that though some male participants had identified their exclusion from initiatives promoting women and gender diverse artists, this was not always seen as negative. However, two male respondents did not view these spaces as positive. For example:

‘Band competitions tend to almost always favour bands with all or any female band members. Alongside the recent surge of female bands only performance events it’s hard not to feel excluded and a little shunned. I would not be allowed to perform at a feme/trans/non-binary event simply because of my gender. Even if the music I perform is stylistically appropriate for the event’ (Respon- dent #158, male).

It is notable that a small minority of male participants interpreted efforts to support and promote the work of women, trans and non-binary people as a form of discrimination against them, despite the systematic privileging of cisgender men in the industry as illustrated earlier. Women identified twice as many categories (n=26) in which they had missed opportunities in comparison to men (n=13), with responses most often relating to missing out to less qualified men:

‘Women are still seen as “outsiders” while men are seen as the norm in music. We have been denied decent playing times and not even considered for shows while less established male peers get those slots’ (Respondent #49, female).

‘Absolutely!!! I have rarely been considered to DJ a gig by people I have known for over thirteen years. Whereas, men enter the “scene” for meagre months and are headlining gigs in genres of music that they don’t even support/like/ collect’ (Respondent #79, female).

‘An example: A less qualified and less experienced male wind musician was booked for a run of shows instead of me because, as I was frankly informed by the Musical Director, the musician was a man and men have a larger lung capacity. Turns out the man they booked couldn’t do all the show dates and I was called up to fill in, i.e. do exactly the same job’ (Respondent #32, female).

These experiences are all evidence of normative gender at work, framing women as hierarchically inferior and lower in status than men (a noteworthy finding in light of the fact that male participants also framed the industry as a merit-based one, a point we return to momentarily). There also exists evidence of broader sexism at play; from biological explanations about lung capacity to structural outcomes where women are excluded from or not even considered for opportunities.

Worst experiences. When asked about their worst experiences in the music industry (question 18), differences were evident between men’s and women’s responses. Figure 10 shows the themes identified in responses to this question. The most commonly identified theme (n=93) was ‘negative-personal’ which included a range of categories including poor mental health, bullying, personal attacks, humiliation and abuses of trust. Responses differed by gender, with women providing 57% of responses in the theme ‘negative-personal’, 91% of responses in the theme ‘negative place for women’, and 56% of responses in

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. 24 Perfect Beat the theme ‘assault’. However, the single most common ‘worst experience’ for women related to the sub-category ‘sexual violence/unwanted sexual advances’ in the theme ‘assault’ (n=20), while for men the greatest number of responses related to the sub-category ‘money’ in the theme ‘financial or property loss/ theft’ (n=16). A follow-up question asked about the impact of this ‘worst experience’ (Figure 11).

Figure 10: Worst experiences: themes by gender

Figure 11: Impact of worst experiences

One-fifth (20%) of men reported that their worst experience had had very little or no impact on them, whereas only 7% of women responded in this way. A neu- tral impact was reported by 34% of men compared with 14% of women, suggesting that men’s worst experience was less likely to have negatively impacted them compared to women. When combining the responses ‘some impact’ or ‘a huge impact’, this equated to 79% of women’s responses, compared with 47% of men’s. In other words, this illustrates that men and women’s ‘worst experiences’ in the music industry differ both in terms of their qualitative nature (sexual violence versus money), and in terms of the extent of the harm or impact caused, with women reporting more substantive impacts than men. Qualitative responses from women about their worst experience that were categorized under ‘sexual violence’ drew out the nature of these incidents—and their impacts—in further detail. Notably, participants recounted experiences of harassment that were perpetrated by men in positions of power on account of their work role, industry status and/or age. As one participant commented, her ‘worst experience’ entailed:

‘Having a male senior staff member be inappropriate towards me in a roman- tic/sexual manner’ (Respondent #4, female).

Another participant’s written response implied that she had encountered harassment across multiple industry contexts:

‘having to stand my ground against certain overbearing, or sleazy males in the work place (venue, rehearsal room, office etc)’ (Respondent #9, female).

This participant’s response also highlights the diffuse nature of the ‘workplace’ for women musicians, something that is relatively unique to the music (and creative) industry. Participants’ comments further elucidated the negative impact that sexual harassment could have on their careers and participation within the music industry, illustrating how harassment is likely entangled with the systematic devaluation and under-representation of women in the industry discussed earlier. For instance, one female respondent discussed experiencing harassment and sexual comments in a recording studio when she was 16 years old. She reported feeling ‘very scared and vulnerable which stopped me recording for years’ (Respondent #37, female). When this participant went to record some years later, she again experienced harassment from ‘an older man who said a lot of innapropiate [sic] things which made recording uncomfortable’. As a result of this negative experience, this participant did not release the recordings. Another participant reported that she was ‘blacklisted’ from a commercial radio station after refusing sexual advances from a producer during her training placement (Respondent #46, female), again

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. 26 Perfect Beat illustrating how sexual harassment works to stymie women’s careers in the industry, if not exclude them entirely. These responses demonstrate that women in the Australian music industry experience sexual harassment in a variety of ways and settings, and from a variety of perpetrators (often men). In general, sexual harassment is most often experienced by women and perpetrated by men (Street et al. 2007) and functions as a means to control women and maintain music industry spaces as masculine ones (Connell 2005; Wright 2016). In contrast, when asked what their worst experience had been in the music industry, men most often described experiences related to money. Analysis demonstrated that 14% of all male (7% of female) respondents’ worst experiences related to money. This included (alleged) criminal acts of theft, with one participant saying his worst experience involved ‘having money stolen by a promoter’ (Respondent #183, male). Another participant said that his worst experience was ‘being severely underpaid due to my age at the time’ (Respondent #174, male). This illustrates how men may also be differentially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in the industry—and have differential access to power—in this case, on account of the participant’s age. While this suggests that we should be wary about making blanket assertions about the nature of men’s experiences in the music industry (and particularly their access to power and resources), it also indicates that men encounter qualitatively different forms of abuse, and less overtly gendered forms of abuse (given that young women in the industry are also presumably vulnerable to financial abuse). Indeed, given that women are paid 25% less than men in the arts (Throsby and Petetskaya 2017), it is notable that not getting paid was presented as a more significant experience for men than women. This perhaps suggests that although women are paid much less, they perceive the risk of assault as a more immediate threat, therefore this may explain why this issue took precedence for women in the results. Importantly, age-related vulnerability is also comparatively temporary in comparison to gender-based harassment. None of this is intended to downplay the harms or impacts of these experiences—financial exploitation and theft are clearly serious and should be responded to as such—but rather to illustrate the substantive differences in the nature, extent and impacts of men and women’s self-reported ‘worst experiences’.

Theme 2: The music industry in Australia is a ‘boys’ club’ that restricts access to women

‘It’s a flippin boys-club. Boys support boys. They don’t even notice’ (Respon- dent #68, female).

Compounding the issue of women’s negative experiences in the Australian music industry was respondents’ perception of the industry as a ‘boys’ club’: that is, a homosocial industry dominated by men, in which men often worked, offered opportunities to, and socialized with other men (Davies 2001). Indeed, the phrase ‘boys’ club’ was used on 12 separate occasions by both men and women across qualitative results from this survey, for example:

‘Australian music industry is embracing more women but you seldom see them in the upper-echelon of any organisation. Major record labels, booking agen- cies and festival promotion is still very much a boys club and sexism is rife’ (Respondent #200, male).

‘I often feel more pressure to prove my abilities and intelligence to males in the industry (not just musicians), and I perceive that there is definitely a “boy’s club” mentality, particularly amongst males in the business who have been there 10+ years’ (Respondent #22, female).

This description of the Australian music industry as a ‘boys’ club’ is mirrored in findings from numerous academic and industry studies. For instance, participants in the UK Federation of Entertainment Unions’ (2013) study on harassment, discrimination and bullying in the entertainment industries, and Strong and Cannizzo’s study of women screen composers (2017) similarly characterized their industry as a ‘boys’ club’ with heavily male-dominated cultures. Miller describes the phenomenon as a situation in which ‘information, resources, and opportunities circulate through men’s friendship networks and remain less accessible to women’ (2016: 126), suggesting that these homosocial characteristics extend beyond the music industry into other creative industries.

Dismissing the issue of gender: from ‘boys’ club’ to ‘meritocracy. That the music industry is a male-dominated ‘boys’ club’ was, however, contested along gender lines. When asked if they believed the music industry was a male-dominated field, nearly three times as many women (57%) as men (21%) answered yes. How- ever, over three times as many men (68%) than women (21%) answered no. These findings demonstrate a lack of awareness among some men of the gender imbalance in this industry—a lack of awareness that extended in the survey to the dismissal of gender as an issue in some men’s responses. These responses were captured by the category ‘obscuring/dismissing/glossing over gender as an issue’. For instance, one participant framed gender inequality as ‘outdated’, saying that, ‘10 years ago this may have been the case, but it is very different now’ (Respon- dent #113, male), reflecting something of a ‘post-feminist’ sensibility (Gill 2016). Others constructed the industry as a meritocracy, where success was a reflection of inherent skill or individual ‘talent’, rather than the benefits reaped (by some) through sustained gender inequality and homosociality:

‘You forgot the most important and possibly only quality that matters—talent. Everything else is irrelevant, in the music industry especially gender’ (Respon- dent #109, male).

‘The music industry is about music not gender. Talent talks bullshit walks’ (Respondent #120, male).

Such comments again reflect those made by participants in Strong and Cannizzo’s (2017) study, with male participants in this work similarly reluctant to suggest that gender inequality might be a ‘problem’ in their industry, and promoting the notion that talent and merit trumped gender. Kimmel (1993) states that gender can be invisible to privileged men, writing that ‘men remain unaware of the centrality of gender in their lives [and this] perpetuates the inequalities based on gender in our society’ (1993: 30). By refusing to acknowledge gender as a legitimate issue, the above responses preclude any potential discussion or subsequent possibilities for change, and further entrench normative gender expectations. In this way, these responses perpetuate male privilege and dominance in the Australian music industry, while obscuring it as a potential cause of women’s inequality, thus evading the need to undertake personal or broader cultural and systemic change.

Conclusion This article has provided analysis of quantitative and qualitative data about experiences and perceptions of gender from a mixed-methods survey of 207 respondents working in the Australian music industry. The results of this analysis show that this industry is in many respects a negative place for women and a ‘boys’ club’ that restricts access and equal participation, reflecting and extending the results of numerous studies on the music and other creative industries (Cooper et al. 2017; Federation of Entertainment Unions 2013; Music Victoria 2015). The results outlined in this article show that women are less positive about their experiences, reported feeling they had to work harder to achieve their goals than men, felt they had been treated differently based on their gender and that this resulted in negative outcomes, including missed opportunities and exclusion from the industry due to their gender. The experiences and perceptions of women outlined here paint a picture of repeated and cumulative incidents of harassment, inequality and discrimination that work to exclude women from the music industry, delimit women’s access to power, resources and cultural capital, and reinforce male privilege and gendered stereotypes. Importantly, results from this study also indicated substantive gendered differences in the nature and impact of participants’ ‘worst experiences’ in the music industry. Notably, women reported a greater range of ‘worst experiences’, and were

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Experiences and perceptions of gender 29 more likely to indicate that these experiences had a negative impact compared to men. These differences were perhaps most starkly illustrated when observing the most commonly identified ‘worst experiences’, with women reporting sexual harassment and violence, and men money-related incidents. While this was not a prevalence study, these findings nonetheless provide further evidence that sexual harassment and violence are likely to be substantive issues faced by women in the music industry. Given that participants were not directly asked about sexual harassment and assault using best-practice descriptive questions, the experiences raised in the open-text responses are almost certainly the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Sexual harassment seriously impacted on women’s sense of safety in the industry, led to some participants withdrawing from the industry, and demon- strably impacted upon women’s career progression. The gendered nature of the open-text responses to the question about ‘worst experiences’ also highlights the methodological importance of seeking out qualitative details of incidents, rather than simply asking if something has been experienced in a quantitative, ‘yes/no’ response. There were also gendered differences in the recognition and understanding of gender inequality within the music industry, reflecting the findings of previous research, and providing evidence of this potentially occurring across the music industry more broadly rather than within specific sub-scenes (Strong and Cannizzo 2017). While some men acknowledged difficulties faced by women and saw value in women-only performances and spaces, others felt unnecessarily excluded from these, dismissing the issue of gender as irrelevant. Interestingly, a small number of male participants articulated measures to support women and gender-diverse people as discriminatory against them, arguably reflecting elements of Kimmel’s (2013) concept of aggrieved entitlement. Read alongside the studies discussed earlier in the piece, the findings at hand illustrate an industry that reinforces normative gendered stereotypes, homosociality and a male-as-default atmosphere. The reported findings draw attention to ongoing difficulties faced by women in the Australian music industry, and define and describe these difficulties in respondents’ own words. These findings are important as they illustrate that while creative industries may purport to be egalitarian (or, moreover, ‘meritocratic’) in terms of gender, the music industry exhibits structural inequities that systematically benefit men at the expense of women. In quantifying perceptions and experiences, and delving into these through the use of open-ended text response questions, this research provides much-needed data and clarity on the operation of gender and gendered power within the Australian music industry. A better understanding of the views of those working in this industry provides a basis for policy and program approaches to ensure greater equality for women within it. Our findings

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. 30 Perfect Beat clearly point to the need to increase women’s access to critical networks, establish- ing support for women to take on positions of authority and decision-making, or ensuring women’s acknowledgement in historical accounts or awards. However, given that some male participants were reluctant to view gender inequality as an issue in their industry, this suggests that educational efforts to shift the views and understandings of men are also vital. This is especially important because of the ‘gatekeeping’ roles that men currently play in the industry, as they dispropor- tionately fill positions of power and key decision-making roles. It is also hearten- ing that other male participants recognized the need for efforts to address gender inequality, and there is potential for this support to be harnessed by encouraging such men to act as ‘champions’ of gender equality within the industry. Findings in relation to sexual violence and safety are of particular concern, and highlight the need for further initiatives, training and interventions—as well as research that more thoroughly documents the nature and extent of sexual violence in the music industry, and the ways in which the unique cultural and social norms of the industry may both enable this violence to occur, while functioning as barriers to reporting and prevention. For instance, the experiences of participants in this study illustrated the diverse and fragmented nature of musicians’ place of work. Likewise, industry reports have highlighted the challenges faced by musicians in reporting the behaviour of individuals who they may rely on for employment opportunities, while lacking the formal avenues for reporting that are typically available in other industries such as a human resources department (especially given the highly casualized and freelance nature of much creative work— Federation of Entertainment Unions 2013). As such, we cannot assume that efforts to tackle sexual harassment and violence in other industry and workplace settings will easily or automatically translate across to the music industry. While some government and industry initiatives have been introduced in an attempt to tackle sexual violence in the music scene, to date these have typically focused on violence perpetrated against patrons rather than performers or others working within the industry. Thus, there is a need to develop policy, education and workplace health and safety initiatives that specifically focus on sexual harassment and violence within the music industry. As with any research, this project has limitations that should be taken into account. While survey participants were recruited purposively, they were still self-selecting. As such, the results presented here are not generalizable. Likewise, participants were recruited from across the music industry and the country at large. While this has provided a broad and general insight into the industry, we were not able to ‘drill down’ into any potential differences across different sub- sets of the industry or across genres of music. Similarly, this project was not able

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Experiences and perceptions of gender 31 to examine any differences in experiences across specific geographic locations, such as a comparison of rural, regional and urban locations. The vast majority of participants were cisgender men and women, and only two respondents identified as non-binary. As such, it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the experiences of non-binary identifying people in the Australian music industry, and this is something that should be addressed in future research. Finally, an intersectional analysis that cuts across gender, race/Indigenous status, (dis)ability and sexuality was not able to be undertaken here, and this remains a major gap in the extant literature. Given these limitations and substantive gaps, we close by advocating for further research in the area of gender and the Australian music industry. There is a particular need for work investigating experiences of those who identify outside of a normative gender binary; experiences of women with children; older women; or men’s experiences and perceptions of masculinities within the music industry. Broadening our current understandings in relation to participation, inclusion/exclusion, discrimination and violence within the Australian music industry is critical to moving forward in both recognizing and enhancing the diversity and breadth of the industry as it stands. Currently, men dominate this industry in their numbers and control of power, and this needs to change.

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Appendix 1: Survey questions

An asterisk denotes a mandatory question.

*1. Please choose what best describes you:

☐ Musician/performing artist ☐ Songwriter ☐ Music management ☐ Publicity ☐ Booking ☐ Record label employee ☐ Journalist/music writer ☐ Music retail ☐ Radio ☐ Administration ☐ Other music industry (free text box)

*2. Location in Australia Western Australia South Australia Northern Territory New South Wales Queensland Victoria Tasmania ACT

*3. With which gender do you identify?

☐ Male ☐ Female ☐ Other (free text box for participant to self-identify)

*4. How old are you?

☐ under 18 (not able to participate in survey) ☐ 18-25 ☐ 26-35 ☐ 36-45 ☐ 45+

*5. How old were you at your first involvement with the music industry?

0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 34-35 36-40 45+ (the researcher acknowledges this error in labelling the age brackets but did not delete or change any data or the survey as this was realized once the survey had closed)

*6. How long have you been/were you involved with the music industry?

☐ Less than 5 years ☐ 5-10 years ☐ 10-15 years ☐ 15-20 years ☐ More than 20 years

7. Please provide the name of a role model you have in the music industry. This might be someone you have met, someone you have read about, or someone you are inspired by. *free text box*

7a. Which gender is this person:

☐ Male ☐ Female ☐ Other (free text box)

*8. Do you believe the music industry is a male-dominated field?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure

8a. If yes, is it a concern for you that the music industry is a male- dominated field?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure

*9. In your involvement with the music industry, do you feel like you have ever been treated differently because of your gender?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure

*9a. Did this treatment result in a positive or negative outcome for you?

☐ Positive ☐ Negative ☐ I don’t know

*10. In your work in the music industry, do you feel as though people have made assumptions about your abilities based on your gender?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ I don’t know

*11. Do you feel you have had to work harder than people of a different gender to achieve your goals in the music industry?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure

*12. Do you think other people in the music industry are treated differently because of their gender?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure Please provide more information if you wish: *free text box*

12a. Do you think that this differential treatment has better outcomes for men or for women? (This question was set up as a matrix; however it was reported that respondents could not choose positive or negative for both men and women therefore this question was excluded from analysis as it did not capture what was intended)

*13. Do you believe you have ever missed out on opportunities in the music industry because of your gender?

☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unsure

13a. Please provide more information if you wish: *free text box*

14. I have confidence in my abilities in the music industry (Likert scale response)

1 2 3 4 5 Strongly disagree Strongly agree

15. Others have confidence in my abilities in the music industry (Likert scale response)

1 2 3 4 5 Strongly disagree Strongly agree

16. How safe do you feel going about your work in the music industry? (Likert scale response)

1 2 3 4 5 Not safe at all Very safe

17. What do you see as the necessary qualities to succeed in the music industry? Please select as many as you think apply:

☐ Assertiveness ☐ Being emotional

☐ Kindness ☐ Being able to win arguments ☐ Gentleness ☐ Loyalty ☐ Aggressiveness ☐ Being able to do things without asking for help ☐ Being softly spoken ☐ Getting people to do what you want ☐ Being sensitive to other’s feelings ☐ Self-sacrifice ☐ Being rational ☐ Caring for others

18. What was the worst thing you have experienced in your work in the music industry? (Please do not identify individuals by name or provide information that would enable individuals to be identified.) *free text box*

18a. What impact did this have on you? (Likert scale response)

1 2 3 4 5 No impact at all A huge impact

*19. Overall, how do you feel about your involvement in the music industry? (Likert scale response)

1 2 3 4 5 Extremely negative Extremely positive

20. Do you have any further comments? Please feel free to write any- thing here that you feel relates to the topics of gender and the music industry. If you have a story to tell, or an instance you wish to describe, or are frustrated by something, or if you don’t understand what all the fuss is about – please write that here. (Please do not identify individuals by name or provide information that would enable individuals to be identified.)