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UK Music launches diversity charter
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 8 February 2012
UK Music has this morning launched an Equality & Diversity Charter with the aim of encouraging more diversity across the music industry. Music companies will be encouraged to sign up to the charter and to commit to undertaking two or more actions in 2012 to address diversity issues, including seeking to recruit from a wider talent pool, improving equality at senior levels, running initiatives to promote better diversity, and sharing methods for addressing such issues with competitors.
Launching the Charter, UK Music’s recently appointed CEO Jo Dipple told CMU: “Diversity is a massive asset for the UK music industry. Our creative talent and the audience who enjoy our music is, without doubt, diversity personified. Promoting that key strength to the companies and organisations in between can only be good for our business”.
She continued: “I also hope this charter will shine a light on some of the excellent initiatives already underway in the industry and inspire debate and discussion – whether that’s PRS For Music and the PRS For Music Foundation proactively funding works by female composers, Koko improving disabled access to their venue and increasing their customer base in the process, Live Nation’s apprenticeship programme, AIM’s Women In Music events, or the MU’s backing of Arthritis Care and Love Music, Hate Racism”.
UK Music has worked with the Alliance For Diversity in Music & Media in developing its charter, whose spokesperson is PPL Performer Affairs Director and MusicTank Chairman Keith Harris, who told CMU: “Due to a lack of reliable data, it is actually difficult to calculate how well the music industry currently scores in terms of equality and diversity. From personal experience, things have improved somewhat, but there is more we can do to enable access to our business to those from different social and cultural backgrounds. The Equality & Diversity charter marks a good start in helping this industry realise its potential”.