UK Music has published its Diversity Report 2024, revealing an up-to-date snapshot of those who work behind the scenes in the UK music industry.
Since its inception in 2016, the Workforce Diversity Survey has examined the industry’s workforce rather than the wider creator community. UK Music say that this has enabled ‘a less visible but influential area [of the industry] that was not being monitored’ to be highlighted.
2,874 people from across the industry responded to the organisation’s survey this year, which was carried out between 17 January and 31 March 2024.
While the results of the 2024 survey show significant improvements in the areas of gender and ethnicity, the findings also highlight areas where more progress is needed. A summary of the key findings from the survey include:
Gender
- 53.8% of those who responded to the 2024 survey identified as a woman — a rise from 52.9% in 2022.
- The representation of women at senior level (48.3%) is lower than at mid (52.4%), and entry level (61.5%). However, there has been positive progress over several years, with senior representation rising from 40.4% in 2020 to 45.1% in 2022, and to the current 48.3% level.
- Women are well represented in the 25-34 age category (58.6%) in 2024, but in the 45-54 age category (46.6%) and 55-64 (39.2%) female representation starts to drop.
Ethnicity
- There is an increase this year in the total number of employees from ethnically diverse communities compared to 2022 — with the percentage rising from 21% in 2022 to 25.2% in 2024.
- The number of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse respondents aged 16-24 rose substantially from 23.2% in 2022 to 40.6% in 2024. There are a number of initiatives across the music industry to improve access for ethnically diverse young people and this rise suggests they are working.
- In entry-level positions, the number of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse employees rose from 23.6% in 2022 to 32.5% in 2024.
- At a senior level the rise was positive but less dramatic, increasing from 18.2% in 2022 to 22.1% in 2024.
Disability
- The percentage of people responding to the survey who reported a disability, neurodiversity or a long-term health condition rose from 14.9% in 2022 to 25.1% in 2024.
- However, it should be noted the 2024 survey asked about disability and neurodiversity in a single question, while the 2022 and 2020 surveys asked about them in two separate questions. This is the likely reason for the significant change this year.
Social Economic
- In line with standard government metrics on socio-economic classification, the survey asked respondents: ‘What was the occupation of your main household earner when you were about aged 14?’
- Analysis of this question reveals that most survey respondents come from professional backgrounds (56.1%). The next largest group come from working-class backgrounds (20.9%), followed by those from intermediate backgrounds (14.8%).
Sexual Orientation
- 76.4% of respondents identified as heterosexual, 6% responded as homosexual (gay/lesbian), 4.7% said they were bisexual, 3% said they were queer, 2% said they identified as pansexual, 1.5% said they were questioning, 0.7% identified as asexual and 4.5% preferred not to say.
Protected characteristics
- For the first time, the 2024 report uses statistics from all nine groups from the Equality Act 2010 in the report. While ethnicity, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age, carer responsibilities (as an alternative for the protected characteristic, pregnancy) and gender reassignment have been featured in the report before, faith and marital status are featured for the first time.
- These findings reveal: 17.9% are LGBTQIA+, 1.7% identify as transgender, 25.2% have caring responsibilities for a child or children under 18 and 47.7% of respondents do not have a faith.
UK Music and the UK Music Diversity Taskforce say they will consider all of these findings in more detail in the autumn.
Ahead of the general election on 4 July, the report also outlines the key asks from the music industry of the next government to boost equity, diversity and inclusion.
Commenting on the report, UK Music Diversity Taskforce Chair Ammo Talwar MBE said: ‘We have seen steady progress on increasing diversity across the music industry since we launched this survey in 2016, with further significant improvements year on year. That’s down to some of the brilliant initiatives in the sector that are driving change and those organisations that have led the way with integrity and transparency.
‘However, there is still loads more to do – and we need the next Government to be fast and fearless when it comes to working with us to tear down the remaining barriers.
‘The socio-economic data is especially concerning, with figures for those working in the music industry whose parents came from a professional background above the national average. We need to do more to ensure that we’re getting talent from every walk of life.’
UK Music Interim Chief Executive Tom Kiehl added: ‘UK Music, our Diversity Taskforce and our members have all worked for years to nurture our sector’s reputation for making diversity and inclusion a top priority.
‘We established our 10-Point Plan, and then built on that with The 5Ps – a framework that mapped out five key areas the industry could use focus on to deliver enduring results for diversity and inclusion – people, policy, partnerships, purchase and progress.
‘We are now asking all the political parties, stakeholders and the industry to get behind the priorities outlined in our Manifesto for Music and look forward to working with the Government and new Parliament to deliver this.’
Speaking about the publication of the report, PRS for Music's Director of Talent, Culture & Experience Janeace 'Jay-T' Thompson said: 'I am a strong believer that embracing diversity, in all its forms, is essential to building and sustaining progression. The appetite for inclusion remains high at PRS for Music and the changes we have made to our recruitment and talent attraction processes, which focus on skills-based hiring and performance over qualifications and job titles, have been effective in helping to remove bias from our processes.
'We still have some distance to go but I’m hopeful this will help towards achieving the parity we seek at every level across our industry.'
