RESEARCH WRITING
I am an experienced researcher and writer. As well as writing my PhD I have also been commissioned by numerous arts organisations over the past few years to produce a variety of reports. Some of them have been internal and confidential business strategies, impact reviews and analyses. Some of them have been academic literature reviews for a variety of clients, so they can ensure their creative strategies are grounded in good research and evidence.
I am also increasingly writing academic chapters; my ResearchGate profile is here with further links to my published academic work: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vick-Bain
I was honoured to co-author a chapter for the Palgrave Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies with Dr Metka Potocnik. The abstract is as follows:
In 2022, the UK Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee started an inquiry into “Misogyny in Music” (Details of the inquiry: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6736/misogyny-in-music/.) responding to the increasing awareness of intersectional gendered hardships experienced by women and gender-diverse artists in the music sector. The overwhelming evidence of the alarming state of misogyny in the music industries can no longer be ignored, and the various aspects of lived gender discrimination should no longer be left to self-regulation within the music industries. This chapter will follow this parliamentary inquiry, whilst also offering a literature overview and existing evidence across several jurisdictions (UK, US, Australia, Norway, Finland, Germany (and potentially others)), to clearly make the argument that women and gender-expansive artists are discriminated against in the music sector.
The authors offer a multidisciplinary overview of the ways in which the patriarchy of the music industries is maintained and, when needed, enforced through misogyny (Relying on Mann’s model: Kate Mann, Down Girl; The Logic of Misogyny (Penguin, 2018)).
In May 2024 I contributed a chapter for the Elgar Research Handbook of Inequalities at Work titled The Original Gig Economy: Gendered Precarious Working in the UK Music Industry.
Abstract: This chapter explores how, behind the glamour and wealth displayed by internationally successful and famous British musicians, for the vast majority of those working in the UK music industry lies another reality; that of precarity. Music is the original gig economy, precarious in its structures of high levels of self-employment and part-time working and it is gendered. Through a review of statistics and research available on those working in the music industry over the past decade, as well as key feminist career theories such as the dynamic self model, frayed careers, and the kaleidoscope model and with a critical exploration of boundaryless careers, this chapter analyses the problematic and exclusionary consequences of precarious working for women in music, compounded by intersectional penalties for those who are not white or are older. It concludes with a number of proposals to better support women in their music careers.
Some of my most rewarding work has been diversity research for public consumption, that ultimately informs campaigning and culture change for the music industries. Although the topic was difficult and reveals the negative side of the music industry, I was proud to co-author Dignity At Work 2: Discrimination in the Music Sector with Dr Kathryn Williams.
The ISM write “In 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo scandal we released our first report, Dignity at work, into bullying and harassment in the music industry. Later that year we worked with partners on Dignity in study. In 2022 we wanted to discover whether the serious issues these reports had revealed were improving. Disappointingly we found that bullying and harassment in music could be getting worse. Our 2022 report, Dignity at work 2, exposed the devastating scale of discrimination (including sexual harassment and racism) in all parts of the music sector, including education“.
Reported here in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/29/sexual-harassment-and-racism-endemic-in-uk-music-sector and available to download here from the ISM website https://www.ism.org/dignity-at-work-2-discrimination-in-the-music-sector
In July 22 the government’s Women and Equalities Select Committee launched a specific inquiry into ‘misogyny in music‘. They asked 5 specific questions;
- What correlation exists, if any, between misogynistic lyrics and violence against women and girls?
- What types of support exists for women experiencing sexism or misogyny in the music industry? How can they report problems or abuse?
- How safe do women and girls feel at live music concerts and festivals?
- What expectations are there on women working in the music industry compared to men?
- What steps should the Government and other industry bodies take to tackle misogynistic and sexist attitudes towards women in music?
Alongside Dr Metka Potocnik I co-authored two responses on behalf of The F-List for Music and was called to give oral evidence in parliament (transcript available here).
Read our submissions here https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/110083/html/ and here https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/121154/html/
I have co-authored numerous reports for arts management consultancy CounterCulture, including a comprehensive 4-year impact review of festival consortium Without Walls.
In December 2021 Counterculture was commissioned to undertake a review of the impact of the consortium since becoming an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) in 2018. As well as supporting the Consortium to understand its impact and identify key areas of study for future research. Counterculture senior partner Kate Ward and I carried out this evaluation. Our findings were based on the review of over 800 internal documents and evaluation reports and consultation with artists, consortium partners and other leaders of the OA sector.
In 2019 I published Counting the Music Industry, a gender gap analysis of over 300 music publishers and record labels in the UK. This research revealed that just over 14% of writers currently signed to publishers and just under 20% of acts signed to labels are female. This gap is surprisingly large and is indicative of widespread discrimination against women in the music industry.
Counting the Music Industry also looked at entry routes into music, particularly through formal education. There has been increased participation by girls and women in music education at all levels over the past five years, to near equity, often gaining better results than their male counterparts. And yet female graduates do not seem to be as successful as their male colleagues in starting careers. This report looks at twelve barriers that exist for women wishing to start and sustain a career in music as well as making recommendations for government, education and music organisations to create a more inclusive industry.
The key findings were published in Music Week https://www.musicweek.com/publishing/read/a-wake-up-call-vick-bain-on-her-report-into-gender-inequality-in-music/077734 and discussed on Radio 3 Music Matters https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zxy and also raised in parliament by Pete Wishart MP in a key debate regarding diversity in the music industry.
For the full report or the summary please download below. There is also a word file of the text for those who use screen-readers.
SUPPORTED BY THE ARTS COUNCIL
Acknowledgement
With thanks to Arts Council England who supported the Counting the Music Industry Tour