MBW Views is a sequence of op/eds from eminent music business folks… with one thing to say. The next MBW op/ed comes from Deviate Digital founder Sammy Andrews, who questions not solely the actions and insurance policies of DSPs and social media firms relating to racist and misogynistic content material, but in addition the music business’s response (or lack of) to them…
As Ladies’s Historical past Month attracts to an in depth, I discover myself reflecting on an unforgettable second on the Royal Albert Corridor.
Because the founder and present director of the inaugural SISTERS: Annie Lennox & Pals, I had the privilege of bringing collectively a number of the strongest voices in music to boost important funds and consciousness for The Circle, a worldwide feminist organisation devoted to supporting essentially the most susceptible girls dealing with violence and injustice worldwide, based by my shopper of 20 years, Annie Lennox.
One in three girls will face violence of their lifetime. That’s not only a statistic, it’s a worldwide disaster. The Circle has spent the final 17 years straight supporting over 1.4 million folks on girls’s rights and empowering greater than 700,000 girls and ladies who face violence, discrimination, and worry. This work is extra essential than ever, particularly as girls’s rights proceed to erode globally within the face of political upheaval and rising extremism.
But, as we celebrated solidarity and motion at SISTERS, I couldn’t assist however take into consideration the darker facet of the business we work in. The music enterprise is more and more complicit in normalising misogyny, and the platforms that gas our business are permitting misogynistic, racist, and hateful content material to thrive.
Music and video streaming providers in addition to socials have in fact revolutionised entry to music, promotion and income for our business, however they’ve additionally created an setting the place misogynistic and violent content material thrives unchecked. Analysis exhibits a surge in sexist lyrics inside in style music, with 77% of the most-streamed songs within the final decade containing sexist themes. That is no accident, it’s a mirrored image of the algorithms that push sure content material to listeners whereas marginalising others.
“If platforms chill out their insurance policies, misogynistic and racist content material received’t simply persist, it is going to be amplified.”
Spotify, for instance, has lengthy been criticised for the best way its advice system favours male artists. A nine-year evaluation of listening information revealed that simply 25% of advisable artists had been feminine, with customers typically having to attend till the seventh or eighth urged monitor earlier than listening to a feminine voice. When males dominate the airwaves, so do the messages they push, messages that too typically go unchallenged.
And it’s not simply music. Earlier this month, a petition calling on Spotify to take away Andrew Tate’s programs on the right way to site visitors girls gained traction, highlighting how these platforms revenue from misogyny in additional methods than one.
Tate, a self-styled influencer infamous for his derogatory views on girls, has constructed a following that’s actively inspired and enabled by the exact same platforms the music business is determined by. When YouTube, X, Spotify, TikTok, Amazon, Apple, Instagram & Fb host his content material, it sends a transparent message: misogyny is monetisable.
The scenario is about to worsen. With Trump again in workplace, his administration is dismantling what it sees as ‘Huge Tech censorship.’ In January 2025, he revoked a 2023 govt order designed to mitigate the dangers of AI-driven content material amplification, stripping away efforts to curb the unfold of misinformation and hate speech.
This transfer aligns together with his broader agenda of defending ‘free speech’, even when that speech encourages hurt. Meta has already responded by dropping its third-party fact-checking initiatives, setting a harmful precedent for different platforms.
If social media giants like Meta and X are scaling again moderation, how lengthy earlier than each platform our business depends on follows go well with? If controversy generates engagement, which in flip generates income, there’s little incentive for these firms to take a stand.
“The music enterprise should determine whether or not or not it is going to be a part of the machine that permits hate to thrive.”
The music business presents itself as progressive, celebrating variety and empowerment when it fits its PR technique. However in relation to actual motion, the hypocrisy is difficult to disregard.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, for instance, noticed a surge in streaming numbers whilst critical allegations of sexual assault surfaced. As an alternative of dealing with penalties, he benefited from the renewed consideration. The identical sample has performed out with R. Kelly, Chris Brown and numerous others. The platforms that host their music don’t take away them, they revenue from the scandal.
Some argue that disclaimers or contextualisation may very well be an answer, however let’s be trustworthy: when was the final time you noticed any platform slap a content material warning on a misogynistic monitor?
The backlash in opposition to content material moderation isn’t only a social media downside, it is going to have a huge effect on the music business. Trump’s decide for FCC chair, Brendan Carr, has made it clear he needs to problem what he calls the ‘Huge Tech cartel.’
If these firms face much less stress to reasonable content material, misogynistic and hateful materials might be given much more visibility. As somebody each working throughout the business and advocating for girls’s rights, I fear about what this implies for the way forward for music.
If platforms chill out their insurance policies, misogynistic and racist content material received’t simply persist, it is going to be amplified. And if the business stays silent, it is going to be complicit in that amplification.
The music enterprise, and the artists inside it, should determine whether or not they are going to be a part of the machine that permits hate to thrive. If misogyny, homophobia, and racism are about to be amplified beneath the guise of free speech, will we proceed to interact with these platforms as if nothing has modified? Or will we push for one thing higher?
The position of an artist has all the time been extra than simply making music, it’s about shaping tradition. If we stand by whereas streaming and social giants monetise hate, what does that say concerning the world we’re constructing? If we permit our music to exist alongside misogynistic and racist rhetoric with out protest, are we any higher than the platforms benefiting from it?
The reality is, we within the music business have extra energy than we prefer to admit. The DSPs depend on us to outlive.
If we take a stand, these platforms should hear. The query is whether or not we are going to. If we proceed to sit down again whereas our work is hosted alongside misogynistic, racist, and hateful materials, we’re all a part of the issue.
This isn’t only a ethical argument, it’s a enterprise one too. Audiences are extra conscious than ever of the place their cash goes, and failing to behave may drive them in the direction of extra moral options.
2025 is a turning level. The tech giants are reducing their defences. If we don’t step up now, the platforms we rely on will change into much more poisonous.
The selection is obvious: we both take collective motion or settle for complicity.
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