INTL: BMAC lauds BMG in inaugural ‘Music Industry Action Report Card’

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Following the one-year anniversary of the music industry’s observance of #TheShowMustBePaused, and appropriately on Juneteenth, the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) announced its inaugural Music Industry Action Report Card assessing the industry's progress in advancing racial diversity.

In its report, BMAC recapped BMG’s ground-breaking review of its historic acquired recorded music catalogs lauding the company for taking “an initiative towards genuine change that hopefully set a precedent for others to follow.” The report continued by saying “companies will need to join the conversation in a more substantial way soon, as examining deals is an essential part of addressing ownership and equity.”

While acknowledging many of the music industry's grades are "merely passing,” the coalition said, “When it comes to justice, average isn’t good enough." Overall, the report assessed such areas as establishing funds to donate to various Black community organizations; supporting Black employees and executives who are advocating for internal change; establishing councils and hiring Black diversity, equity and inclusion officers; and initiatives made by companies like BMG to fix inequities in royalty payments to legacy artists.

In June 2020, amid an international discussion about racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis, BMG made a series of public statements through December 2020, pledging to take action on racial inequality, as well as launch an inquiry that would seek to establish whether it had inherited recordings subject to discriminatory contract terms for Black artists.

Following the presentation of the analysis to the Black Music Action Coalition, the US-based advocacy organization formed to address systemic racism within the music business, Co-Chairmen Binta Niambi Brown & Willie “Prophet” Stiggers said:

“Gathering, understanding and sharing data describing historic inequities in the music business is a core activity of the Black Music Action Coalition, which was formed to advocate for an end to structural and systemic inequality in the music business and broader society. We welcome this initiative by BMG and believe if all other labels were to follow suit, this could be a game changer for Black artists throughout the industry. We cannot fix what is wrong if we do not investigate and hold ourselves accountable for whatever the results may be.

“BMAC looks forward to continuing to work with BMG and every other music industry participant to understand this information, and recommend strategies and best practices to create a fair, just and equitable industry that respects the humans, who are at its core. Black artists and creators must be paid fairly if we believe genuinely that Black life matters.”

In closing, BMAC’s report card quoted BMG COO, Ben Katovsky, saying, “We acknowledge that the totality of the Black music experience cannot be captured in a numerical study, but we wanted to forensically address racial disadvantage in its most tangible form – the payments artists receive from their labels ... We have found a number of both Black and non-Black artists with terms in contracts signed decades ago which we feel are not appropriate. While these legacy contracts may have been entered into willingly, are fully legally enforceable and we paid the previous owners full market value for them, we feel we can do better.”

And BMG intends to continue its efforts to make good on that claim.

Source BMG

June 23, 2021 9:00am ET by Pressparty  

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