We’ve covered the inquiry into music streaming a lot in this mailer but there’s another inquiry underway in Parliament that focuses on the music industry. It’s about misogyny in music, and is being held by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee. Wednesday saw its second evidence session, hearing from four witnesses: Vick Bain (The F-List for Music); Melinda Kelly (Safe Gigs for Women); Nadia Khan (Women in CTRL) and Vanessa Threadgold (Cactus City Studio). Khan cited her research into radio hits, which found low representation of women and non-binary songwriters and artists. She also noted that when women do have hits, they are often still second-billing, or not even credited. “Women artists are having to collaborate, or their vocals are being used on male-led records, in order for them to have chart success,” she said, citing Becky Hill as a prime example. Threadgold said that barriers to entry to the music industry are a key factor here too, long before artists get anywhere near the charts or awards nominations. “At the very start, the environment is set up in a way that is very unwelcoming to women, whether that be the childcare perspective, or just in the nature of sexual harassment, sexualisation and misogyny that’s present,” she commented. The inquiry will continue in the coming weeks and we’ll keep you all posted. Hopefully, it leads to real change within our industry – we need it. Via Musically