FEATURE:
Ongoing Misconceptions and Ignorance
IN THIS PHOTO: Jameela Jamil co-produced James Blake’s (her partner) recent album, Friends That Break Your Heart
Why Do So Many People Assume That Women Cannot Be Producers?!
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I am going to react to…
IN THIS PHOTO: Producer, recording and mix engineer, Olga FitzRoy (Fitzroy was named Recording Engineer of the Year at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) awards in 2016. She was recognised by the BBC on Woman's Hour Power List in 2018 for her campaign for shared parental leave and maternity allowance for self-employed and freelance staff. She won the 2019 Campaigner of the Year award at Music Week's Women in Music Awards)/PHOTO CREDIT: Music Producers Guild
and take from an article that appeared in The Big Issue (that I saw on their website) today (23rd October). When reviewing female artists and spotlighting great women of music, there are many who produce their own work. I publish features about Kate Bush regularly. From very early in her career to now, she has produced her own music. Some of my favourite albums ever were either produced by women or a female artist has produced/co-produced her own album. Whilst one does not see as many women credited as producers compared to men, I have always loved the production work of women/non-binary artists. From great producers and engineers such Catherine Marks, Catherine Anne Davies and Olga FitzRoy, they have put their name to some truly astonishing music. Davies, as The Anchoress, producers her own work. She has had to face people questioning whether a man produced her albums – the stunned sense that, in fact, she is a producer! In spite of there being many trailblazing women in production, the figures are quite shocking when you look at studios and the number of women producing. Last year, only 2% of women were credited on hit songs; a 2019 article provided some sobering realities. The situation has improved slightly the past few years, though there is still this imbalance. Maybe there is this culture that exists in studios when men are favoured or there is an environment that makes it hard for women to be accepted. Many women are discriminated against if they ask for maternity leave (the feeling that they will be less reliable). A sense still pervades of producing in studios being something that caters to men. I know there are studios not like this. The fact female producers are fighting to be heard and are not being recognised shows that there is a systemic issue.
IN THIS PHOTO: Catherine Marks has worked with the likes of Foals, Manchester Orchestra, The Killers, Local Natives, Wolf Alice, Beware of Darkness, The Big Moon, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, The Amazons, Arno, Howling Bells, Sunset Sons and Eliza Shaddad (The MPG Full Member and previous MPG Award Winner is pictured giving her speech at the 2017 MPG Awards (she was the winner of UK Producer of the Year 2018 MPG Awards)
A lot of women (and non-binary artists) self-produce. Maybe this gets overlooked when albums come out. People assume that, naturally, a male producer put the music together! If a lot of the biggest and most popular albums have been produced by men, there are so many great women producing that have been marginalised or not provided the same opportunities (as men). It comes down to educational foundations. Music is being taken off of the curriculum. I wonder whether production courses at colleges, universities and music schools encourage girls/women to produce - or whether there is this great awareness and desire to affect change. I am going to come onto the feature from The Big Issue. It is alarming that many people assume that, if a woman is credited as a producer on an album/song, it is because they are in a relationship with the male artist or they have done very little. This is an attitude and misconception that has been aimed at so many women. Actor, campaigner and producer Jameela Jamil is someone who has had to handle lazy, sexist and insulting comments. She is dating musician James Blake. I have seen interviews where Blake has rhapsodised and praised the enormous role that Jamil plays in his music. To call her a ‘muse’ would be insulting and demeaning. She is someone who drives some of his most affecting and beautiful music. More than that, she has been a big part of his production and creative process.
I am going to source sections of The Big Issue’s piece. Olga FitzRoy makes a very important point (a slightly tongue-in-cheek remark became the headline of the article) about music production and engineering:
“When Jameela Jamil got a music producer credit on James Blake’s latest record, internet commentators were quick to judge.
“A lot of women insisting I couldn’t possibly have actually worked on my boyfriend’s music, and that he must have just credited me to be nice,” Jamil tweeted. “I was a DJ for 8 years, and studied music for 6 years before that. You are part of the problem of why women don’t pursue producing.”
Jamil said Blake had to actually fight her to take the credit because she was “so pre-emptively sick of the internet”.
“Yeah… people assume that she couldn’t possibly have done it, because apparently you need a penis to make a record,” sighs Olga Fitzroy, executive director of the Music Producers Guild (MPG).
A producer, mixer and engineer who operates out of Sir George Martin’s AIR Studios in London, Fitzroy has recorded with the likes of Coldplay, The Streets and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. No penis required”.
There are so many great female producers and female artists who are producing their work, yet there is this credit given to men. That, or there is a misconception that a woman could produce an album! Even in 2021, one would hope that there would be greater recognition, acceptance and understanding of women in music.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) is one of our finest artists and producers/PHOTO CREDIT: Roberto Foddai
Yes, statistics do show that, in professional studios, fewer women are producers compared to men. That is not to say women are not producers or there are very few talented female/non-binary producers making amazing work:
“Yet Jamil’s comment that women don’t pursue music production as a career is based in fact. An analysis of the Top 100 UK radio airplay chart last year found a mere three per cent of tracks by British artists credited a female producer. In the US Billboard chart the proportion of female producers credited in 2020 was just two per cent. This makes music production one of the world’s the most gender-imbalanced careers.
“Jameela’s tweet definitely rang true with me as an experience that I’ve had in the past,” says respected producer Catherine Anne Davies – who also performs as The Anchoress. “I inadvertently ended up recording the first Anchoress record as an excuse to be in the studio, really. Unfortunately, the only way people wanted me there was as an artist.”
Internal bias
Though Davies is credited as the sole producer on her latest record, The Art of Losing, it was still tough to get recognition.
“The second line in the press release was ‘written and produced by Catherine Anne Davies’ and yet still, still – and this really pissed me off – the reviews would come back praising the production… by the guy that mixed it.
“I don’t think it’s always malicious. I don’t think people go around thinking that they’re misogynistic, or that they are assuming that women can’t do certain things. But I do think we have a lot of internal bias around what roles women tend to do in the industry. And the default, even amongst other women, is to assume that you sing”.
During lockdown and the past year or so, the nature of recording and production has changed. Many more artists are producing from home. This means, for female artists, they do not need to go into studios and be surrounded by men. There is a toxic culture in many studios where sexism and prejudice is rife. So many great female and non-binary artists have produced their own work remotely and not had to share credit. Perhaps the latest boom and changing nature contrasts the perception that male producers rule and that women are a silent minority. Although there are a lot of problems that need addressing, the digital revolution has allowed for progress when it comes to gender bias. I would urge people to read The Big Issue’s feature – and go and buy a copy preferably from your local vendor -, as it highlights a couple of things. There are issues that still need tackling; attitudes that are rife and require eradication. There is a more positive note: things are slowly changing in some areas; organisations like MPG and Hen Hoose lending a voice to women and non-binary producers. Lockdown has created this flourish and explosion of women producing from their offices and home. In spite of this, workplace harassment and sexism has caused this enormous and disturbing barrier:
“Freelance fears
“Sexual harassment in the workplace is an issue and Rebecca Ferguson has done great work in highlighting it,” says Fitzroy. “I think part of the problem is the freelance nature of the industry. People might not be aware of their rights, or might be unwilling to enforce their rights because of the fact that everybody’s connected.
“You’ve got a system of patronage where people are working for really important individuals so they don’t want to rock the boat. You have also often got quite informal working environments – people working late, people working on their own.
“All those things come together to make it harder to actually do anything about sexual harassment. That’s not an excuse, that’s just where we are. We need to do a lot better.”
Safety fears may put women off working in the male-dominated space of a studio, but the irony is that a better gender balance may be part of the answer to that problem. Though Fitzroy and Davies both emphasise that fixing these issues isn’t as simple as making sure there is always more than one woman in the room, they agree that a better gender balance would create a healthier environment both behind the mixing desk and for artists.
“I’m not saying that all women express their vulnerabilities and trauma in music, but often, that can be the case,” says Davies. “And obviously, you don’t really want to do that in a room full of guys.”
Fitzroy says she’s “lucky” that she’s never experienced “anything of a particularly serious nature” when it comes to sexual harassment, but her status as a freelancer did have an impact when she had a baby. Since only female freelancers are entitled to parental leave, she was forced to take time out of her career – and even when she came back, clients doubted her dedication and her commitment to put in the hours.
“I had to work really hard to combat those assumptions and get back to where I was before I had a baby,” she says. “That’s the biggest barrier I’ve faced.”
Under Fitzroy, the Music Producers Guild has been active in campaigning to make the industry a more welcoming place for women. Their board is now 60 per cent female and their membership has gone from being six per cent female in 2018 to 13 percent this year.
“She’s incredible,” says Davies of Fitzroy’s campaigning work. “She can take so much of the credit for really turning it around and making sure that it is representing a whole heap of people that have been overlooked for a long time”.
There are so many wonderful women (and non-binary persons) producing and creating music. From artists self-producing to people like Jameela Jamila and Olga FitzRoy, the industry really needs to go further and work harder to give women greater recognition. To ensure that studios are more equal and tolerant. In a larger sense, attitudes around sexism and ignorance need erasing. The thought that a woman producing is a novelty or rarity! From schools and educational facilities to big studios, I hope that there will be a change. Lockdown and a more remote way of producing and recording has started to open doors and change things. It is pity that artists like Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress) and many of her peers have to correct those who ignore her production work or sort of assume some else has done the hard work. In order to cultivate a more rich and interesting landscape, more and more women and non-binary producers are breaking barriers and getting their voices (and music) heard. Maybe there will be true equality in years from now. It takes the effort and commitment from all corners of the music industry to ensure that this happens. It is the least that can be done to honour and acknowledge the incredible producers whose innovative, passionate and phenomenal work is…
SO valuable and vital.