Gender of producers in the music industry in the U.S. 2020

According to a study on representation and equality in the music industry, only two percent of producers were female while approximately 98 percent were male. While the share of female music producers had doubled between 2018 and 2019, this trend reversed in 2020, leaving a significant gap in terms of proportionate representation.

Gender inequality in the music industry

Even though music audiences are as diverse as ever, and recent data has also indicated that male and female listeners account for similar shares of digital music users in the United States, there are still significant gaps when it comes to the representation of different groups. The share of female songwriters across the top 100 songs in 2020 stood at below 13 percent - a figure that has pretty much remained unchanged in the past decade. But this disparity not only unfolds behind the scenes: In 2020, just over 20 percent of artists on Billboard’s top 100 charts were female, and in genres like hip-hop or alternative, this share was even lower.

Grammy Awards

The fact that the music industry remains a male-dominated landscape is also reflected in the Grammy Awards. While the show made headlines by merging male and female categories back in 2012, the imbalances have remained. Data on the gender distribution of Grammy nominees collected between 2013 and 2021 shows that less than 10 percent of nominees for awards like Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Producer of the Year were female. And even though the playing field was much more balanced in the Best New Artist category, many artists still fail to get the spotlight they deserve.