Women and non-binary producers and engineers were “vastly underrepresented” in 2022’s most popular music, according to a new study.
The inaugural Fix the Mix report found that women and non-binary people claimed less than 5% of the tech credits for the most streamed songs of 2022, making up 187 of the total 3,781 credits on the 757 songs surveyed.
Developed by nonprofit organisation We Are Moving the Needle and music credits database Jaxsta in collaboration with Howard University and Middle Tennessee State University, the findings are part of what the researchers refer to as “the first major study of gender representation across all credited production and engineering personnel by role”.
A total of 1,128 songs from 2022 were analysed, including the 757 most-streamed songs, 30 Grammy-winning albums, the Top 50 songs from the Spotify Billions Club playlist – which lists every song with more than 1bn streams – and the Top 50 songs from the RIAA diamond-certified records list.
The study examined the top-line key roles, including producers, engineers, mixing engineers and mastering engineers, as well as additional production and recording roles such as programmers, vocal producers, editors and assistants.
A survey of the Top 10 most-streamed tracks of 2022 across five major streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube and TikTok) revealed a “significant” gender gap. Of the 36 unique songs across these platforms, there were 256 credited producers and engineers, only 16 of whom were women and non-binary people. Cuff It by Beyoncé claimed five of those credits.
It also found that women and non-binary staff are more highly concentrated within assistant roles than in key technical roles, suggesting a glass ceiling may be “preventing this demographic from an upward trajectory”.
“This study confirms what I’ve known after spending decades behind the board in the recording studio – women are not being given the same opportunities as men in production and engineering roles,” said co-author and We Are Moving the Needle founder Emily Lazar, a mastering engineer – and the first woman to win the Grammy award for best engineered album, for Beck’s Colours in 2019.
She continued: “We hope this report will give decisionmakers the motivation and tools they need to make real change in their hiring practices so we can achieve gender parity in production, engineering and mastering roles.”
The data also featured a breakdown by genre, with data compiled from the Top 50 songs from 14 genre-specific lists, including pop, Latin, rap, dance and R&B. The lowest percentages of women and non-binary people credited in key technical roles were found in metal (0.0%), rap (0.7%), and Christian and gospel (0.8%).
Meanwhile, the electronic music category boasted the highest representation of women and non-binary people in producer roles, accounting for 17.6% of all producer credits on the Top 50 songs of 2022; the song with the most women and non-binary people credited in technical roles in this category is Giolì & Assia Folk’s Silence. Folk and Americana followed closely behind with 16.4% of its producer credits attributed to these gender groups.
The report also looked at the this year’s Grammy awards. Of all the winning albums in the 28 “best in genre” categories, 17 albums credit no women or non-binary people as producers or engineers. Only 19 out of 249 credits on these winners were for women and non-binary people.
The results are at odds with an increase in women and non-binary professionals working in production in recent years. As a result, the study concluded that women and non-binary people are not being hired after they earn audio production degrees or complete the necessary qualifications for credited roles. It states that “tremendous strides must be made to achieve significantly more gender representation in the recording industry”.
In order to reduce the gender gap and empower women and non-binary people working in music, the report suggests accurately crediting all technical contributors, diversifying hiring practices, educating the industry and demanding data transparency.
It also urges people to support the advocacy groups working towards equal representation in the music industry through resource allocation, education and networking.
“This is not merely an option, but an imperative,” the report reads. “We must take bold and decisive action to ensure that those who have historically been marginalised or underrepresented are given equal employment opportunities and a level playing field. Supporting and expanding these initiatives will help the music industry achieve the progress it purports to pursue.”
