UK Music and UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce is calling for
greater transparency in the battle to boost diversity and
inclusion across the music business and creative
industries.
The call came as the collective voice for the music industry and
its Diversity Taskforce published their new
report, Moving the Dial on
Diversity, to examine progress over the last
year.
The new report builds on the publication in October 2020 of UK
Music’s Ten-Point Plan, which outlined the clear steps needed to
make the music industry a diverse, inclusive and welcoming
environment for everyone working in the sector.
It reveals that, while UK Music’s ten member organisations have
made strong progress towards the targets set out in the Ten-Point
Plan, more work is needed to deliver sustainable change and
ensure the sector truly reflects its audiences.
The report outlines a series of key areas where more work is
needed as part of the music industry’s determination to lead the
way for the creative industries in fighting racism and boosting
diversity.
The recommendations include the need for greater transparency
around data to help highlight areas where more work is needed,
more clarity from Government on reporting standards linked to
ethnicity, and more investment from companies in music in
diversity and inclusion.
Writing in the report, football legend and diversity champion Rio
Ferdinand welcomed the progress made by the music industry and
outlined how the sector could drive change right across the
creative industries, sport and wider society.
The former England and Manchester United star revealed how music
plays an important role in his Rio Ferdinand Foundation, a youth
and community development charity working in some of the UK’s
most disadvantaged communities.
Rio Ferdinand said:
“Music has always been a major passion of mine; it’s been the
soundtrack to my life and the backing track to my fitness
regimes. It has also been a key area of work for my Foundation
who recognise that music, along with sport, is a key cultural
driver for young people in terms of voice, aspiration, and
personal development.
“I’ve enjoyed listening and watching great music from afar like
most people, but the killing of George Floyd and the outpouring
of self-reflection from several industries made me look
deeper into the role music can play and how all these new pledges
for change would manifest themselves in the future.
“I’ve always felt that accountability must cut across all
industries, but at the core of these issues is you cannot
have change in diversity without complete transparency.
“What this progress report shows is a willingness for the music
industry to listen to colleagues from diverse communities and act
- not only benchmark themselves but move the dial in a respectful
manner. Taking the learnings from these past twelve months,
we need to do more over the next ten years. In music, just
as in football, and in life, we need to unite in diversity.”
UK Music Diversity Taskforce Chair Ammo Talwar
said:
“Our Taskforce is delighted in the way we have been able to embed
over the past year the UK Music Ten-Point Plan as the industry
standard baseline for strategic action
on equality, diversity and inclusion.
“Our new report outlines some very positive progress in the music
industry, which we hope can lead the way for the creative
industries and workplaces everywhere when it comes to bringing
about lasting change.
“A key part of that involves gathering more data to help improve
our understanding of why exclusion is happening in so many
workplaces. Our goal is to make the music industry fairer for
everyone.”
UK Music Chief Executive said:
“The music industry is bursting with talent and potential. We
need to ensure that everyone from every part of the UK and from
every background gets the opportunity to join this fantastic
sector.
“The music industry continues to make great strides. Our
report shines the spotlight on some of the positive changes we
have achieved, but also highlights the areas where more work is
needed to deliver real equality of opportunity.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Link to the Moving The Dial On Diversity release: https://www.ukmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Moving-The-Dial-On-Diversity.pdf
Link to the Ten-Point Plan: https://www.ukmusic.org/equality-diversity/ten-point-plan/
Link to the Rio Ferdinand Foundation: https://www.rioferdinandfoundation.com/
