Black Lives in Music publishes first report of its kind

Black Lives in Music (BLiM) has published part one of its ‘groundbreaking’ report into the experiences of Black people in the UK music industry. 

The organisation was co-founded by Roger Wilson and Charisse Beaumont in March 2021, and its first survey was open for six weeks, closing on 30 April 2021.

Gathering anonymised data from 1,718 respondents, the results have been published as the ‘Being Black in the UK music industry’ report, divided into separate documents on ‘industry professionals’ and ‘music creators’.

Combining data and case studies, part one of the report focuses on a range of areas, including barriers to progression, gender and ethnic pay, Black women in music, and mental health.

As revealed in an MT interview with director of operations Roger Wilson, and laid out in the ‘music creators’ section of the report, the key findings in education are: 

• White music creators are more likely than Black music creators to have formal or professional qualifications that are specific or relevant (78 per cent and 53 per cent respectively).
  
  
• 88 per cent of Black music creators have a music related degree or other qualification, compared to 97 per cent of White music creators.
  
  
• White music creators are almost two times more likely to have ABRSM and Trinity College London (TCL) qualifications than Black creators (68 per cent of White creators have ABRSM qualifications compared to 33 per cent of Black creators; and 22 per cent of White creators have TCL qualifications compared to 12 per cent of Black creators).
  
  
• Black creators with music qualifications earned £1,463 in a month compared to the £1,936 earned by White creators. Black women with qualifications earned £1,187.

The report also found that six in 10 Black music creators have experienced racism.

In her foreword, chief executive Charisse Beaumont wrote: ‘If you want to see equality in the music industry then reading this report is essential to change. If you choose to ignore this report then you are ignoring your friends, colleagues and employees experiences to suit your own needs and that is a problem.’ 

Wilson said: ‘I've been an instrumental teacher for just short of 30 years – I've seen a real paucity of colour, a lack of diversity, in just about all of the educational organisations that I've worked in. That's in the private sector, the independent school sector, the university sector, and the secondary education sector.

‘What we're trying to do is level the playing field, not only at a professional level, but also in terms of entry level grassroots initiatives and opportunities.’

The survey is set to be released annually, again with accompanying reports.

The report can be downloaded here.

Hear more from Roger Wilson here. 

blim.org.uk