JAZZ HISTORY-MUSIC 114

Systematic Racism in Music Popular Culture

The music sector happens to be one of the most significant industries in the world, whereby it has gradually evolved from phonograph records and Walkmans to the current instant online streaming platforms. Currently, as a popular culture, music is consumed by numerous individuals across the world with no limitations to time and geographical location. Music was used to “tell stories of vibrant cultural interaction and social transformation” (Barentdregt & Nordholt, 2017).  However, within the music industry, there always exists a distinction among artists; whether individuals acknowledge it or not. One notable difference tends to be the racism. Individuals have come a long way in fighting against and addressing the issue of racism which in turn have led to other issues in intersectional identity, religion and politics. Nonetheless, traces of racism are still prevalent within contemporary society, particularly institutionalized racism. One example of how systematic racism lives on is through the music sector. For instance, music awards such as the Grammy awards convey numerous nominations for people of color compared to white artists but still win an almost similar amount of awards. To effectively recognize the impacts of institutional racism within the contemporary music sector, this paper evaluates the history and prevalence of institutional racism in the popular music culture.

In the Southern United States of America, Jim Crow laws, including segregation marked the beginning of systematic racism in the music sector. In the 20th century, African Americans performed various genres of their creation such as vaudeville, jazz, ragtime, as well as all “black” orchestras, and obtained recognition amongst the Africa American neighborhoods. Nonetheless, mainstream music institutions frequently refused to employ African Americans. Between the 1910s and 1940s, it was a period of dynamic cultural change where the popular music culture “question and reconstruct boundaries of race, class, national identity, gender, and the modern” (Barentdregt & Nordholt, 2017). The race records were exclusively created under ethnic genre classification and cater for niche market which was specific ethnic groups. The records were not distributed in white neighborhoods, and that is why white people did not recognize popular African American artists. During this period, popular African American artists like Duke Ellington were substantially unrecognized amongst the white audience. According to Monod (2020), White people rarely purchased or listened to popular music amongst African Americans, excluding vaudeville songs performed by white people wearing blackface.

Since the most significant section of the music sector was controlled and operated by white-owned recording labels, African American musicians were hidden from the public, in spite of their contributions in composing numerous hit records. These record companies consistently underpaid African American artists and at times left out their names on records, thus refusing to give the artists the credit, popularity, including payment that they worked for. The first African American musician to be widely popularized by record labels was George W. Johnson who was specialized in whistling (Ortale, 2019). Johnson made his first commercial recording after being discovered in the streets of New York. Johnson became famous for his laughing songs, which unfortunately sustained “black” stereotypes.  The Whistling Coon was one of Johnson’s first songs to be recorded. The song was used by white people to refer to the anti-black coon caricature publicized in the 20th century that displayed African Americans as idle, lazy, inarticulate, as well as easily frightened individuals (Pilgrim, 2012). The coon was displayed as an adult behaving like a child.

Another popular African American artist by the name of Mamie Smith recorded two songs but her race was not included in the recording and marketing of the songs. However, when African Americans discovered that she was “black,” they increasingly purchased the record. As Smith’s works grew in popularity, other music production companies began producing and distributing race records. In 1921, Black Swan Records was founded, becoming the first African American-owned record label that released numerous race records. Nonetheless, Black Swan Records ran rapidly into financial crises since they did not convey sufficient funding (Blakemore, 2019). Systematic racism and segregation integrated with challenges of accessing funds, technology, as well distribution, which were substantially managed by white people, placed “black” record labels at a disadvantage. African American artists were exploited substantially and remained in the background, while white artists were driven forward in fame and wealth.

Still to date, record companies are doing good work in suppressing African American artists. The music sector continues to nurture systematic racism by not promoting diversity within the top executive levels. For instance, Universal Music Group conveys twelve executive board directors whereby only three of them are people of color. Conveying almost all-white executive board members does not exhibit the music that these record labels are funding. White people substantially dictate how African American music art is distributed, and frequently it prospers on stereotypes (Baah et al., 2020). The fact that white people predominantly control African American music is grounded in systematic racism, including privilege. White people produce and distribute the music of African American musicians such as Big Sean and Wale, and substantially profit from African American culture. Consequently, popular music is currently dominated by R&B, Soul, as well as Hip Hop, but the record labels are predominantly operated by White people yet black-fueled.

Systematic racism also stretches towards musical awards. For instance, the Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards, which is considered the most prestigious music awards, are significantly likely to be won by white artists. Less than 20% of all Albums of the Year Grammy Awards have been taken by African American artists, whereby Hip-hop was not acknowledged in the list of nominations and awards until 1989. The proof concerning racial discrimination in the Grammy’s Recording Academy was given much attention when Deborah Dugan, the Academy’s former CEO, ascertained that the Academy happens to be more racist than what the public sees (Agbai, 2020).

One of the most notable moments that proved that racial discrimination is prevalent within the awards ceremony was earlier in 2020 when Billie Eilish won the Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year awards for her song Bad Guy. Considering that the Academy is a US-based organization, and Lil Nas X’s song by the name Old Town Road was considered the most popular song in 2019, setting a record by running at number one for 19 weeks in the billboard chart. Consequently, Old Town Road was nominated for Record of the Year but was not listed in the Song of the Year award. Instead, Old Town Road was awarded the best Pop Duo Performance which appeared to be a half-hearted consolation award (Bloom & Kim, 2019).

Focusing on Lil Nas X’s song, institutional racism continues to prosper in the music charts and against cultural appropriations. African Americans are mostly associated with Hip-Hop, Soul, and R&B charts, while white musicians happen to dominate the country, pop, as well as rock music. There are various exceptions such as Eminem’s prominence in Hip-Hop charts and Rihanna’s popularity in pop. Nonetheless, there are observable efforts to maintain a discriminative chart structure favoring white musicians. When Lil Nas X’s Song was listed within the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs in 2019, it was quietly ejected from the chart on the grounds that it does not convey adequate features of contemporary country music (“Backlash after Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” removed from Billboard Hot Country chart,” 2019). In 2013 however, Macklemore, a white musician, topped the Billboard’s chart of Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Songs for 44 weeks. These incidents indicate systematic racism within the American musical charts and against cultural appropriation.

Conclusively, numerous individuals are not aware of institutional racism within the music sector since the industry is considered proficient in hiding things to secure their reputation and brand. Until individuals take a stand and recognize the systematic racism in the music sector, the rights of African American musicians will constantly be neglected while white musicians will continue to prosper and profit from the unfair system. And as more individuals become actively aware of how deeply systematic racism invades society, they will increasingly recognize its impact in the religion, politics and music cultural production. Individuals must voice their concerns and promote change so that the organizations in the music industry implement their systems to reflect fairness and cultural appropriation. We cannot ignore the fact that the popular music culture “tell stories of vibrant cultural interaction and social transformation and question and reconstruct boundaries of race, politics, class, national identity, intersection identity, gender, femininity, masculinity and the modern” (Barentdregt & Nordholt, 2017).

References

Agbai, B. (2020). Institutionalised racism in the music industry. Theboar.org. Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://theboar.org/2020/06/institionalised-racism-in-the-music-industry/.

Baah, N., Haidari, N., Akinfenwa, J., & Kasambala, N. (2020). How To Fix Racism in the Music Industry, By People in the Music Industry. Vice.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxq785/how-to-fix-racism-in-the-music-industry-by-people-in-the-music-industry.

Backlash after Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” removed from Billboard Hot Country chart. Cbsnews.com. (2019). Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/old-town-road-lil-nas-x-billboard-removes-song-from-hot-country-critics-question-race-factor/.

Blakemore, e. (2019). How ‘Race Records’ Turned Black Music Into Big Business. History. Retrieved 29 June 2021, from https://www.history.com/news/race-records-bessie-smith-big-bill-broonzy-music-business.

Bloom, M., & Kim, M. (2019). Billie Eilish Scores First No. 1 Single, Ending “Old Town Road” 19-Week Run. Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://pitchfork.com/news/billie-eilish-scores-first-no-1-single-ending-old-town-roads-19-week-run/.

Barentdregt, B., Keppy, P., & Nordholt, H. S. (2017). 1. Oriental Foxtrots and Phonographic Noise, 1910s-1940s. In Popular Music in Southeast Asia (pp. 17-38). Amsterdam University Press.

Molanphy, C. (2014). I Know You Got Soul: The Trouble With Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Chart. Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9378-i-know-you-got-soul-the-trouble-with-billboards-rbhip-hop-chart/.

Monod, D. (2020). Vaudeville and the Making of Modern Entertainment, 1890–1925. The University of North Carolina Press.

Ortale, S. (2019). Imagining Africa: An Analysis of Tropes and Motifs in Turn of the Century Black Music.

Pilgrim, D. (2012). The Coon Caricature – Anti-black Imagery – Jim Crow Museum – Ferris State University. Ferris.edu. Retrieved 29 June 2021, from https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/coon/.