Gender Equality Advocacy Group Keychange Launches in U.S.
This expansion was funded by a $250,000 donation from TuneCore and its parent company Believe.
Music industry gender inclusivity organization Keychange has expanded in the U.S., with some help from TuneCore and Believe.
This launch was celebrated at an event held yesterday (June 14) in New York City. Hosted by Andreea Gleeson, TuneCore CEO and U.S. Ambassador for Keychange, the event followed an oversized check presentation event in London the week prior during which TuneCore and parent company Believe donated $250,000 to entirely fund Keychange’s U.S. expansion. This gathering was attended by Believe’s chief people officer Sandrine Bossard, along with 75 participants from Europe and Canada.
“TuneCore and Believe are committed to making the music industry a more inclusive space and with our funding of Keychange’s expansion into the U.S., we are putting our intentions into action,” Gleeson says in a statement. Our companies provide services for music creators at all stages of their careers and now supporting this initiative, we can proudly say that we are levelling the playing field not only artistically but socially, across all genders, races and ethnicities.”
Founded in 2017, the nonprofit initiative focuses on empowering women and gender minority artists and industry professionals. Core partners include Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival, the UK’s emerging talent incubator PRS Foundation and Sweden’s live music nonprofit Musikcentrum Öst, with support from the E.U.-operated cultural and creative program Creative Europe. The organization’s goal is to diversify and reshape the music industry to create a more inclusive industry. Keychange’s Gender Equality Pledge has been signed by more than 580 global music organizations.
Keychange has named Andrea DaSilva as its U.S. program manager. In this role, DaSilva will work on developing and growing Keychange’s program which will focus on gender equality along with race and ethnic diversity and creating opportunities across all underrepresented minority groups in the U.S.
Gender inequality persists as an issue in the global music industry.The results of a ten-year study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released in March found that women remain underrepresented in many areas of the music creation process and other areas of the industry. Key findings included that in 2021, 23.3% of artists on the Hot 100 year-end chart were women. This number has been stagnant for a decade, with women representing 21.8% of artists across ten years and 1,000 songs on this chart. The study notes that these numbers are a “far cry” from the 51% of the U.S. population comprised by women.
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