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BMG launches review of contracts to weed out racial bias
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 12 June 2020
BMG has said that it has launched a review of all its artist contracts – including and especially those relating to catalogues it acquired – in order to seek out and address any racial bias that it finds.
In a memo to artists and managers, the company noted that, while the current version of BMG has only existed for a little over a decade, its rapid growth during that time through the acquisition of older catalogues from other music companies makes it likely that there are some issues with how legacy artists are treated.
“We are determined that last week’s [Black Out Tuesday] action is more than a black square in a social media post or a series of slogans”, it said. “We need to play our part in addressing historical injustices inflicted on black people. Last Wednesday we embarked on a journey designed to make lasting change. We know we cannot change the world by ourselves, but we are determined to change our part of it. For the better”.
“Mindful of the music industry’s record of shameful treatment of black artists, we have begun a review of all historic record contracts”, it went on. “While BMG only began operations in 2008, we have acquired many older catalogues. If there are any inequities or anomalies, we will create a plan to address them. Within 30 days”.
As well as that initiative, the memo added that the company’s workforce is “not as diverse as [it] could be”, saying that “despite numerous initiatives over the years, we have not made sufficient progress”.
In an effort to address this, it says that BMG bosses will now “produce a plan” to ensure that progress is made, while each of the company’s twelve international offices will also produce a strategy to fight wider injustice in society. Both, like its contract review, will be done within 30 days.
