Statistics From USC Study
The UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (USC) ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE has released findings from its research brief examining inclusion among male and female artists in Country music. The brief also takes a look at the age and gender of artists included in the Billboard year-end Hot Country Songs charts from 2014-2018, as well as the gender of the songwriters for 200 songs assessed by the study, and the sex of Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards nominees. While the results won’t come as a galloping shock to anyone who has followed the Country music industry in recent years, the study does further illustrate Country music’s dramatic gender gap.
Among the key findings:
• 16% of artists across 500 top Country songs from 2014 to 2018 were female.
• Among top performers, male artists had roughly twice as many credits as top female artists did across the sample.
• Not one of the top-performing women was over the age of 40, while all but one of Country’s top-performing men had reached or exceeded that age.
• Women represented 12% of songwriters across the two years studied.
• Only 15% of ACM nominees in four major categories from 2015 to 2019 were female.
According to DR. STACY L. SMITH, Founder and Director of the USC ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE, “While the results of this study might not be surprising, they illuminate the fact that gender and age play a role in restricting the careers of female Country music artists. Women — especially women over 40 — are noticeably absent as top performers on the charts evaluated in this genre.”
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NASHVILLE (UMGN) is a founding partner in the ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE, and UMGN Pres. CINDY MABE said of the study, “The current state of Country music only provides the perspective of 50% of the population. We clearly have a problem. Our job is to amplify our artists’ voices and help them introduce their stories and connect to their audience. This has gotten increasingly harder and limiting over the last few years, especially for women, and it has dramatically affected the perspective, reach and depth of our Country music genre. Taking a reflective, disciplined look into our own actions can only help inform and influence our decisions going forward so that all of our artists’ voices are heard.”
Several groups have made commitments to work with the USC ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE, including YOUTUBE MUSIC, and LIVE NATION’S newly-launched WOMEN NATION division. Earlier this year, the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC initiated a Diversity & Inclusiveness Task Force.
SAYS SMITH, “The USC ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE is calling on other labels and industry partners — especially those in radio — to undertake similar analyses in their own businesses. With a rigorous investigation of what data [tells] us about audience preferences and behaviors, it is possible to confront antiquated beliefs about what consumers want to create an environment where great music by male and female artists thrives.” See the full study here.
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