Joe GallopMusic industry campaigning and lobbying group UK Music has called for more representation in senior jobs with its survey revealing that one in five (19.9%) Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse employees hold top jobs in the industry.
UK Music said work on equality, diversity and inclusion has successfully boosted representation at almost every level, but it warned that the increase was not reflected at senior levels.
The survey broke down the ethnic backgrounds of those working in the UK music industry top jobs and found that 6.4% identify as Black or Black British, while 12.6% are in the industry at entry-level.
For Asian or Asian British employees, the data found that 4% are in senior jobs and 6.8% are in entry-level roles.
People who identified as Mixed represented 8.1% of entry-level jobs and 5.3% of senior roles, while those who identified as White accounted for 65.4% of entry levels jobs and 80.1% of senior-level roles.
The survey follows UK Music’s Ten-Point Plan from last year, which found a 2% increase in the number of workers from ethnic minorities at senior executive levels from 2018. It also urged people in the industry to drop the acronym ‘BAME’ when referring to people from Black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds.
UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said, “I know just how hard the industry is working when it comes to equality, diversity and inclusion. These are challenges not just for the music business, but right across society.
“For our business to reflect modern Britain and our audiences, we need to keep striving to ensure diversity runs right through every level and sector of our industry.”