Every year, companies in the UK with over 250 employees are required to produce a gender pay gap report. What are the results for this year? And what does these new findings tell us about gender equality in the industry today?
What is the gender pay gap?
Quite simply, the gender pay gap is the difference in pay between the average salary a male employee earns vs that of a female employee within the company. This is calculated by adding the salaries for each gender, then dividing this number by the number of employees in each gender.
The Results of Major Music Corporations UK
| COMPANY | % MEN EMPLOYED | % WOMAN EMPLOYED | PAY GAP |
| Universal | 58 | 42 | 25.3% |
| SONY | 51 | 49 | 19.3% |
| Warner | 50 | 50 | 17.8% |
| Spotify | 57.9 | 42.1 | 19.2% |
| Apple Music | 89 | 11 | 22% |
| Live Nation | 37 | 63 | 14.3% |
(Please note statistics are taken from the percentage of men and women in the upper-middle sections of the corporations)
What do these results say about UK Businesses?
According to the Financial Times, the disparity between pay for men and women is only continuing to get worse and widen. This year women were paid 0.87 pence for each pound earned by their male co-workers. Compared to the results of 2019 and 2018, when the pay gap was smaller standing at 12.8% and 11.9%. With COVID-19 meaning companies were not required to submit their reports for last year, it has given a two year span for them to close the pay gap. So why is it only growing?
It appears that despite the numbers of those working in ‘low tier’ music industry based positions (within the major corporations listed) being on the majority level in percentage, those holding the ‘high tier’ management and CEO positions remains predominantly male. The most extreme example being Apple Music, with only 13% of the upper quartile earners being female. Universal Music follows with 26% of women holding top-earning positions.
It is important to note the gender pay gap reports leaves it to the discretion of the employer to include those who identify as transgender or non-binary. This brings a multitude of issues within itself, such as the non-automatic inclusion of transgender and non-binary people, as well as placing employees in uncomfortable situations regarding if they wish to disclose their identity to said employer.
What is the music industry doing to close this gap?
So what steps is the music industry taking to close this gap? If any?
Senior Director of HR at Universal Music UK, Morna Cook MBE, in 2018 told Music Business Worldwide “At Universal Music, diversity and inclusion isn’t driven by compliance or obligation. Success in our fast-evolving industry depends on us attracting people from all kinds of backgrounds, and having a team that truly reflects and supports the incredible diversity of our artist roster and society.”
It can be argued independent music businesses seem to tackle gender imbalance in pay and employment head on and more efficiently. With programmes such as LaunchPad and The Level Studio Programme.
However, the PRS Foundation launched the PRS Foundation Women Make Music Campaign, 2018, aiming to create a more inclusive and equal music industry. The scheme led by Keychange has the goal of achieving a 50/50 gender balance across UK Festivals by 2022.
It is evident there is need for further research and programmes to lessen the pay gap and create an inclusive and equal music industry. With the introduction of the PRS Foundation and Grassroots schemes aiming to do so, there is hope for the future of music business workplaces in equilibrium and an even playing field.
Articles used/ further research:
Article by Olivia Barnes