Gatekeeping in itself is a major industry issue that touches upon access and privilege. One could argue that gatekeepers are useful to preserve the quality of our industry, that they let only the best succeed… if only.
Most of the time, gatekeepers prevent non-privileged individuals – talented or not – from accessing certain positions in the industry: an artist with a label deal, a decision or policy-making board member, a well-paid executive, etc.
What privilege could get someone through the gates? Nepotism, being cis / white / male, having financial support from a well-off family to endure voluntary or low paid positions until making a name for oneself, understanding and using certain social codes or hierarchy and office power games regardless of one’s qualifications, being a poster child that ticks a token box without actually representing the community, having certain looks, and possibly other attributes that have nothing to do with being talented or good at one’s job.
And what is the result? Studies show that only 16% workers in the creative industries come from a working class background. Having other intersections such as being racialised or differently-able has also been shown to create more barriers to accessing creative jobs, and of course the barrier of gender remains major. Not only this is unfair, but it also means the music industry is missing out on the plurality of voices the scene needs to remain interesting or to survive what challenges are thrown at us – rising logistics costs, streaming, un-ethical AI…, while preserving music as an art form and community cornerstone.
Beyond basic gatekeeping, there are also cases of “gatecreeping”. That one boss who grants favors or advancement to those who are or seem ready to grant favors of a personal nature. While this could happen between any genders, most commonly, cis men gatecreep on women. More than half women say having been victim of gender-based discrimination including 33% of unsolicited advances and other, sometimes much more serious, abuse.
Cases of men having abusive power over women in the music industry is nothing new, perhaps a well-known example is Tina Turner before she became a solo artist; in more modern days, Mariah Carey told her story of being in a toxic industry marriage while already being famous, and Kesha went public about her situation but did not get the institutional nor industry support she needed. Her legal battle was one of the trail-blazing cases for the #metoo movement in the music industry – a most recent exemple is a series of allegations for grave sexual misconduct in the hard techno scene, the case is closely monitored by metoodjs (info and contact).
Gatecreeping stories commonly told in our industry are about men offering networking or advice, or providing technical services (and possibly getting paid for it), but only coming through if granted some sort of sexual favor. The follow-up to these stories are that some women feel trapped and abide, and for those who refuse, this can lead to harassment or to getting black-listed.
Grooming is also quite present in creative industries, already from school and in A&R; however it is more rarely called out because victims may not realise what happened until much later, or because these cases of being mentored while dating or even marrying are seen as love stories defying the age gap.
Because we have all heard these stories, or for some have lived them, fem creatives tend to restrict themselves from engaging in networking, collaborating, acquiring skills, promoting themselves in a certain way… the backlash women can face or the wrong kind attention they can attract result in self-afflicted gatekeeping, which is fully part of the gatecreeping system.