Treatment toward women in the music industry has shown some improvement but has a long way to go, according to the inaugural “Women in the Mix” study from the, Arizona State University and Berklee College of Music Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship.
Music creators and performers see the lowest income and highest dissatisfaction with career progress. Of the respondents that identified as music creators and performers, 48.6 percent said they made less than $40,000 per year. While that’s roughly 15 percent higher than within the entire respondent pool, this indicates that these professionals are making less money than their peers in other professions on average.
Despite challenges, career satisfaction and passion for the music industry remains high. Seventy-eight percent of respondents reported feeling satisfied, with over 80 percent in career categories that seem to face the most obstacles, such as freelancers and music creators and performers. Over half of respondents said that their pathway into their careers was through their inherent love and passion for the music industry.
Creating paid internship opportunities — since internships are often unpaid, they are a barrier to those who don’t have access to sufficient resources which would otherwise allow them to work for free. By creating paid internship opportunities, we address access to resources, opportunities, networking, and work/life balance.
Additional Paid Days Off — with burnout being a significant challenge brought up by respondents, giving employees additional and/or mandatory days off would address work/life balance.