Sync or Swim? The Shared EDI Challenges in the TV and Music sectors
The UK’s TV and music industries are two of the biggest cultural influencers on our society - shaping narratives, bringing connection and entertainment and reflecting our Nation's values, passions and identities. But how similar are they when it comes to representation, inclusion and work culture?
As Gritty Talent’s marketing manager, I pour over TV’s diversity and inclusion stats and initiatives all the time. But I’m also a published music producer and DJ, and I often find myself asking similar questions about the music scene.
So here’s a quick dive into what we know about both when it comes to inclusion - with some ideas on how we might compose some more interconnected solutions together.
The Stats
Creative Diversity Networks’s 'Diamond Data 6th Cut 2023' report and UK Music’s ‘Diversity Report 2022' offer insight into the makeup of both workforces. Drawing on these two reports and other external sources, we can begin to understand both the shared and unique challenges they face.
Global Ethnic Majority:
GEM professionals are under-represented in decision making roles in TV, and dropping out of senior roles in Music. Why?
Systemic issues such as racism, misogyny, and micro-aggressions are playing into the experience of GEM talent in TV and Music.
Furthermore Black professionals working in Music are disproportionately represented in some of the lowest reported incomes.
Gender:
Women are under-represented in senior roles in both industries, but make up a higher percentage of entry to mid-level roles. The stats below help explain why:
Women leave both industries at a higher rate in their 40’s - this has a significant impact on the volume of women in senior roles.
66.7% of those accepting unpaid work in Music are female or non-binary.
Socio-economic background:
41% of those who work in the music industry identify as working class, though they only make up 3.6% of intern roles, 16.6% of entry roles and 32.4% of senior roles, signalling a barrier to entry and progression.
13% of employees across the eight TV broadcasters attended private school, compared with the UK average of 7%, and 62% of employees had parents in a ‘professional occupation’ when they were aged 14, compared to the UK estimate of 33%.
People working in TV from ‘lower socio-economic’ backgrounds in their 30s and 40s are paid lower weekly rates compared to other groups.
Disability:
Both industries struggle to reach proportional levels of disabled representation in their workforces, as well create equal opportunity for progression or provide fully accessible work environments.
Disabled professionals in music typically earn less than non-disabled professionals and are massively underrepresented at higher income brackets.
Overall Work Culture:
The two industries have an embedded culture of overworking and/or benefitting from unpaid labour. This severely impacts talent’s finances and has taken a profound toll on the mental health of professionals in TV, as seen throughout 2023.
The Big Thorny Issue(s)
Sadly, the evidence all points to wider issues across the creative sector. Some of the most pervasive include:
Socio-economic disparity: The volume of professionals from socioeconomically privileged backgrounds, combined with the level of less advantaged professionals in senior roles indicates not only a barrier for entry, but progression.
Disability inclusion: 37% of disabled respondents in UK Music’s Diversity report had not disclosed their disability due to fear of discrimination and 71% of disabled respondents in this LHC report identified attitudes of colleagues toward disabled people as a barrier for them.
Pay gaps: Gender pay gaps in both industries are strikingly high, as is the disability pay gap. There’s also disparity between Asian and White respondents in the music industry and their Black and Mixed colleagues. Gaps can be linked to certain demographics being more prevalent at different levels of seniority, but this only exacerbates the overall issue.
Confronted with these realities we have to ask ourselves the tough question: why? Why have our sectors not yet been able to fully address some of the big cultural and financial blocks to accessing the best creative talent from all backgrounds?
The unique business models and workflows of these industries (compared to traditional employee based organisations); the nature of creativity itself; and how creative careers have been traditionally viewed by society all certainly play a part.
Indeed we also know that regulation is an issue. For example Ofcom sets guidelines for broadcasters, but not independent production companies or the freelance workforce.
Some solutions
These gaps are beginning to be addressed - the UK government is currently considering an independent review into the wider creative sector’s work cultures and conditions, as detailed in a 2024 report into the economic contribution of the creative sector.
It would also be useful to see unique reviews undertaken by each industry, given their nuances, but this could really turn the tide on the cultures of overworking, pay gaps, discrimination and barriers to progression that have affected these high-grossing sectors for too long.
Regardless, there is no overnight fix for complex issues. However, I believe the similarities between the industries offer a chance to pool efforts - learning from each other's experiences and implementing innovative solutions, where both sectors can reflect our society while nurturing their workforces and maintaining global reputation.
T.A.Ps 5 A’s guidelines for Disability inclusion, for example, could be directly applied to the music industry. On the other hand, UK Music is embarking on a research project to understand UK Black music’s contribution to the UK music industry as a whole - it would be great to see similar projects in the TV industry that put an economic value on contributions from under-represented groups.
Based on our experience in TV, other viable solutions that compliment these larger scale projects include: EDI training for organisations to efficiently educate teams, combatting discrimination and microaggressions (in all forms), and raising awareness of the unconscious biases that often inform our actions; Mentorships, internal hiring and career development to ensure equal opportunity for all, particularly disabled talent; and a new level of transparency from key stakeholders to get the full picture on pay gaps and understand why they occur and how we address that.
There’s a long way to go for our creative and cultural industries, but we need to see a shift if we want to continue making the world-class media and music our nation is known for. Facilitating this shift is something Gritty Talent is committed to, through our work with under-represented talent, heads of production and sector bodies. If you’d like to know more about our Inclusion Accelerator, and what we can do for you and your organisation, get in touch with us at team@grittytalent.tv.
