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UK Music Diversity Taskforce calls for more data to help tackle diversity barriers in the industry

By | Published on Thursday 25 November 2021

UK Music

UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce has called for more transparency in the music industry to help better assess why exclusion is happening in so many workplaces. That call came as the cross-sector trade group published a new report called ‘Moving The Dial On Diversity’, which follows the publication a year ago of a ten-point plan for how the music industry could ensure more diversity and inclusion within its companies and organisations.

Reflecting on the progress that has been made over the last year, the Diversity Taskforce’s Chair, Ammo Talwar, says: “Our Taskforce is delighted in the way we have been able to embed over the past year the UK Music Ten-Point Plan as the industry standard baseline for strategic action on equality, diversity and inclusion. Our new report outlines some very positive progress in the music industry, which we hope can lead the way for the creative industries and workplaces everywhere when it comes to bringing about lasting change”.

However, he adds, “a key part of that involves gathering more data to help improve our understanding of why exclusion is happening in so many workplaces. Our goal is to make the music industry fairer for everyone”.

The new report also includes input from former England and Manchester United football player Rio Ferdinand, who has a foundation that seeks to support young people living in disadvantaged communities, and which recently announced a partnership with Warner Music.

He writes: “Music has always been a major passion of mine; it’s been the soundtrack to my life and the backing track to my fitness regimes. It has also been a key area of work for my Foundation who recognise that music, along with sport, is a key cultural driver for young people in terms of voice, aspiration and personal development”.

“I’ve enjoyed listening and watching great music from afar like most people, but the killing of George Floyd and the outpouring of self-reflection from several industries made me look deeper into the role music can play and how all these new pledges for change would manifest themselves in the future”, he goes on. “I’ve always felt that accountability must cut across all industries, but at the core of these issues is you cannot have change in diversity without complete transparency”.

He concludes: “What this progress report shows is a willingness for the music industry to listen to colleagues from diverse communities and act – not only benchmark themselves but move the dial in a respectful manner. Taking the learnings from these past twelve months, we need to do more over the next ten years. In music, just as in football, and in life, we need to unite in diversity”.

You can download the new report here.



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