Gendered music institutions: a feminist critique of contractual levers of power

In this contribution I focus on the gendered character of UK music organisations and the origins of their overwhelming power in the system. In the UK, the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) found, in their 2024 report on “Misogyny in Music” that gender discrimination in the music industries is endemic, and systemic. Recognising that women do not have access to the same opportunities, and for those that do get to enter the sector, we see their experience is laced with discrimination and sexism, WEC looked at, among other things, at the practice of Non-Disclosure-Agreements (NDAs) to create a culture of silence. WEC did not recommend an all-out ban on NDAs, accepting the claim that there might be some legitimate use of NDAs, to protect commercially sensitive information, including copyright. The F-List for Music CIC, where I sit on the Board, and its sister organisations, have on 30 January 2025, asked the WEC to investigate the role of copyright and music contracts in the creating, or maintaining the intersectional discrimination in the sector. In this contribution, I draw on my new, interdisciplinary framework FIPS (Feminist Intellectual Property Studies) and the lived experience of women (twenty-six interviews) to evaluate the effects of music contracts on women and gender-diverse people’s autonomy, creativity and well-being when making music. I argue that music contracts are used to control women and gender-diverse artists, by placing them in commercially tailored boxes (i.e. pigeonholing). Moreover, I argue that the commercial fixation of copyright rules creates gendered bias in the system, resulting in gendered institutions. At present evidence shows that music organisations, such as record labels and music publishers are dominated by men. These organisations accumulate power, because of the copyright rules that allow for transfer of copyright in original works and acquisition of sound recording copyright, when statutory conditions are met. In addition, rules on commercial exploitation, licensing and participation in collecting management organisations, such as the PRS for Music are built to favour the men in the system, who earn more money from music, than women.

Citation

Potočnik, M. (in press) Gendered music institutions: a feminist critique of contractual levers of power. Frontiers in Communication.

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

© in press The author. Published by Frontiers Media. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: [TBC]

ISSN

2297-900X

EISSN

2297-900X

Collections

Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences