Survey Shines Light on 'Gender Divide' in Songwriting

Survey Shines Light on 'Gender Divide' in Songwriting; Female Songwriters are Less Likely to Have Approached Publishers & Labels than their Male Counterparts

New York, NY -- August 15, 2001 -- An online survey of 584 songwriters conducted this spring by industry e-Journal MusicDish found a worrisome 'Gender Divide' in respondents' experience with the music industry. The survey found that Female songwriters tend to have significantly less years involvement in songwriting than men. While 53% of songwriters with less than a year of experience were female, they only represent 25% of those with 11-25 years experience. They are also less likely to have had interaction with major publishers and labels as well as independent publishers. The results were published in the report series "Songwriters in the New Millennium," a report series based on the survey conducted to measure songwriters' perceptions of the organizations and activities that have traditionally supported them. The reports feature contributions by leading members of the community such as Dean Kay (ASCAP), J.W. Johnson (BMI), Allen Foster (The Songwriters Monthly), Mark Schulz (NARAS) and David Michael Thomas (NSAI). The report series is available for free at http://www.musicdish.com/survey/songwriter/

Have had no expereince with...   Male      Female
Major publisher            42%      46%
Independent publisher         34%      40%
Major label            38%      46%
Nat'l songwriting org         39%      33%
Other music-related org      47%      37%

The reports also outline some positive developments for female songwriters. For example, they tend to have significantly more experience with national songwriting organizations such as NSAI or SGA and other national music-related organizations such as NARAS. This is significant because these are major sources for information, education and networking. They also expressed greater satisfaction with organizations and resources serving songwriters as compared to men, including national and regional songwriting organizations as well as workshops. They also had a higher approval of resources in both print and online mediums including magazines, periodicals, newsletters and tip-sheets.

The fact that only 30% of those who responded to the survey were female drew some illustrative retrospection from contributing author Tonya Rae who had won the Golden Music Awards "Female Vocalist of the Year - 2000."

"This was an eye opener for me. But then I looked at my first demo album and then my "real" freshman album, and found that the majority of the writers were male. In fact, more then 70%! I couldn't believe it! I went back to take a look at the demo tapes, which I still had, to see how many of the writers were male and how many were female. To my surprise, 92% were males and only 8% were female. Why was that? Are we still in a society that does not encourage women to excel at anything and everything they want? Or are men simply more prolific in writing music then women? That might be an interesting study in and of itself."

About Songwriters in the New Millennium
"Songwriters In The New Millennium" is a report series based on an online survey conducted this past spring of songwriters on their perceptions of the organizations and activities that have traditionally supported them. The reports feature contributions by leading members of the community who have dedicated their careers to working with songwriters and the craft.
http://www.musicdish.com/survey/songwriter/

Songwriters in the New Millennium is sponsored by...
LiveWire Contacts - http://www.livewirecontacts.com
TAXI - http://www.taxi.com
USA Songwriting Competition - http://www.songwriting.net/
Songsalive! - http://www.songsalive.org/
The Songwriters Directory - http://www.songwritersdirectory.com
Songwriter's Monthly - http://www.lafay.com/sm/

About Tag It
Tag It is a leading online infomediary and consultancy in the entertainment & news media sector. The company publishes award winning publications including MusicDish (www.musicdish.com); Mi2N (www.mi2n.com); and 'LA'Ritmo.com (www.laritmo.com). The company's research has been published and discussed in major industry forums such as the MP3 Summit, Harvard Law School, and ACSEL, the French multimedia & ecommerce association. Tag It and its executives have been featured in major media outlets such as the Washington Post, Wired.com, the NY Times, the Miami Herald and NPR's To The Point, among others.
http://www.taggin.com