Counter-narratives: An Oral History Project
AUTHOR(S): Carolyn Malachi
The Counter Narratives Oral History Project explores COVID-19 pandemic-era blockchain technology adoption among the music industry’s population of women producers and engineers. Public safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdowns and quarantine mandates, forced recording studios to close their doors. For women who reportedly represent just 2.6% of the population of producers and engineers in the music industry, this shift proved significantly challenging. Published in March of 2022, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Study revealed that 10% of women music industry professionals surveyed could not find work during the pandemic. More than 90% of respondents declared the music industry their primary occupation, and exactly 90% stated that they held secondary music-related jobs to earn sufficient income before COVID-19 shuttered the music industry. With this report, the music industry will be able to target its collective efforts toward the areas where action is needed most as well as measure more specifically if progress has been made. This study presents metrics and data-informed strategies in an effort to realize quantifiable change.
KEYWORDS: COVID-19; blockchain, NFTs, women in music, cryptocurrency, pay equity; work-life balance; oral history; virtual studio technology