If there is one theme running throughout popular culture in 2016, it’s that under-representation in the arts can no longer pass without demonstration, protest and scrutiny. From the controversy and subsequent backlash surrounding the Oscars, the Baftas and, most recently, the Brit awards, you’d think that the days of unbalanced celebrations of entertainment industry figures might soon be over. But according to the industry magazine Music Week’s “30 Under 30” list, which recognises some of the best and brightest young talent working behind the scenes in the British music industry, there is still a long way to go. Out of the 30 finalists, only two are from an ethnic minority background – which has, understandably, caused outrage among many in the UK music scene.
Music Week magazine’s14 March 2016 ‘30 under 30’ issue
The full cover. Photograph: Intent Media
Since the list was published on Monday, publications such as UK Complex and Nation of Billions have presented their own alternative 30 Under 30 lists – which disprove, contrary to Music Week editor Mark Sutherland’s suggestion in a blog, that there is a “wider lack of diversity” in the industry.
Take, for example, Tiffany Calver, a freelance journalist, DJ and presenter on Radar Radio, who was, shamefully, overlooked in the Music Week list. Over the years, Calver has built up a reputation as a key industry figure, hosting a number of parties and inviting acts such as Awful Records’ Father and ABRA to London. There’s also radio presenter and DJ Julie Adenuga, younger sister of grime artists JME and Skepta. Adenuga began her broadcasting career at Rinse FM before moving to Apple’s streaming radio service Beats 1. She is a a hard-working tastemaker who cultivates and encourages some of the best in new music – not to mention she is an inspirational role model for other people of colour hoping to work in the industry.
The Music Week list also leaves out some of the key players in the elevation of British music’s most exciting movement, grime. Last month, BBC 1Xtra DJ and former 30 Under 30 nominee Sian Anderson wrote a scathing piece for the Fader which called for more representation of grime artists at the Brits, pointing out that acts such as Stormzy and JME are charting, and “yet are being overlooked by the awards without so much as a nomination or performance at the ceremony”. Anderson and Complex UK’s music editor Joseph “JP” Patterson have been instrumental in championing the best grime that Britain has to offer.
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Sutherland’s admission that more work is needed to showcase a more diverse industry only tells us that Music Week does not see under-representation as a pressing issue – at least not until enough brand-harming noise is made. His comments regarding the two non-white nominees appear misguided too, raising the issue of colourism as well as racism, as it suggests that it doesn’t matter which ethnic minorities are included, as long as they are of a slightly darker hue than their white peers. Sutherland makes it sounds as if tokenism is an adequate response to inequality, when all it does is send the worrying message that the publication overlooked the issue until it was challenged by the public.
[“Source-theguardian”]
