If the music industry were a Spotify playlist, the C-suite would be stuck on a tired classic rock loop—think “Money for Nothing” on repeat—while the rest of the world grooves to Beyoncé’s BREAK MY SOUL. According to a damning new USC Annenberg study, women and people of color remain glaringly absent from top executive roles, even as they dominate the charts as artists. The report, led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, exposes an industry where diversity hits keep climbing the Billboard Hot 100, but the boardrooms are still blasting “oldies but moldies.”
Across 106 music companies—including giants like Sony, Universal, and Spotify—women hold a dismal 13.2% of senior leadership positions. White men, meanwhile, occupy 84.2% of these roles, a stat that feels less Hamilton and more Mad Men. The numbers get grimmer: Only 5.3% of top execs are women of color, and streaming platforms like Spotify and SiriusXM scored a flat zero in hiring underrepresented CEOs. As Dr. Smith bluntly notes, “When organizations aren’t reflective of the artists or audiences they serve, they’re leaving talent—and money—on the table.”
The disconnect is jarring. While women like Taylor Swift, SZA, and Ice Spice break records and shape culture, their executive counterparts are MIA. At major labels, just 16% of CEOs are women, and none of the “Big Three” music groups (Sony, Universal, Warner) have a woman at the helm. Music distribution companies fare slightly better, with 28.6% female leadership—proof, perhaps, that the algorithm isn’t the only thing that needs an update.
“This isn’t a ‘pipeline problem’—it’s a priority problem,” says TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson, whose company co-sponsored the study. “If boardrooms reflected the creativity of the artists they profit from, we’d have more innovation and fewer ‘corporate restructuring’ euphemisms.”
The report isn’t all minor chords. It offers solutions: measurable hiring criteria, flexible promotion pathways, and sector-specific fixes. But in an era where DEI initiatives face backlash, the study serves as a wake-up call. As Smith warns, clinging to homogeneity isn’t just tone-deaf—it’s bad business.
The music biz loves a comeback story. But until execs swap their “boys’ club” laminates for backstage passes that look like the world outside, the industry’s greatest hits will keep missing the harmony. Time to change the track.
Source: Variety
