Competition is nothing new to executives in the music business. But those who put forth their achievements to vie for a place on Billboard’s annual Women in Music list face a different kind of competition.
Here, hits by record companies are weighed against deals by music publishers, ratings by radio programmers are considered against new technologies launched by digital companies, and breakthrough branding partnerships are put up alongside boxscore records by live tours.
Billboard’s Women In Music 2012 Honorees
All these achievements and more are considered-and ultimately ranked-before Billboard presents our annual Women in Music list in our Power Players series. This year, we once again received nominations for nearly 200 executives. A team of Billboard editors then methodically reviewed the nominations, numerically ranking the nominees on their achievements in the past 12 months. (A statistical tie results in 41 honorees and one shared slot on our list.)
Each year, the competition also gets keener, as new executives rise to prominence and vie for this honor. More than one-third of this year’s honorees didn’t appear on our 2011 list.
Women in Music 2012: Letter From The Editor
This year, we also sought to expand the recognition offered by our Women in Music report. Within, you’ll find breakout stories on the women of the performing rights organizations, women who are making a difference in social media and the women of Creative Artists Agency, a company whose female-driven, team-focused success we deemed worthy of a shout-out.
There’s no question that numerous accomplished executives didn’t make this list. But the selection of the honorees featured here represents the collective ranking and judgment of Billboard’s editors.
As we’ve noted each year, this list reads like a roster of the top people in the music business who happen to be women. The range of their achievements reflects the overall impact of all the women in our industry.
We once again congratulate them as we present this year’s Women in Music report.