Racism in the American Music Industry

The music industry shapes the culture of the United States or of any country. The expression of rebellion and truth reveal the accurate cultural climate of a society and the people within it. Without this pure expression of art and emotion by diverse groups of people, the cultures of the past would be lifeless, and the cultures of today would be sparse and lacking in depth. A deep exploration of racism in the music industry’s past and current status is significant and crucial in order to preserve the true and hidden cultures of the past and implement them into the culture of today and the future.

The history of racism in the American music industry paves the way for apparent racism in today’s current industry, and the history will shape the future of diversity in the industry as well. First, African American music played a prominent and well-known role in the history of racism in the music industry in the United States. Big Bill Broonzy perfectly exemplifies what an African American artist dealt with in the past.

In 1926, a self-taught musician named Big Bill Broonzy found his way to Chicago…Broonzy’s recordings were sold as “race records” – music for and by Black audiences…Broonzy was just one of the thousands of Black recording artists who helped fuel the phenomenon of race records between 1920 and 1940. But though these artists pioneered new sounds in blues, jazz and gospel, most labored for no recognition and little pay (Blakemore 2018).

Despite the future acts of desegregation in other social areas, the music industry held on to the separation of race and culture in music in the early 20th century. Many Whites were not aware of the large amount of African American music being sold because the particular mass media was marketed to the specific demographic of African Americans. Because most race records were targeted towards their prospective demographic, others were not aware of the records, and this created financial and occupational issues. African American artists needed to record music for their albums to be created, but they had less access to recording and sound equipment. White people owned most of the recording studios as well as the equipment within them. This created issues in terms of stealing recording rights because White labels were able to manipulate Black artists since their recordings were never published. The White music producers would hire or take on African American artists and misuse their gifts and talents to create music at a cheaper cost. In turn, this created wage issues. African American artists would not be given the equal reward for equal labor. African Americans would write and create different tracks, but the White labels would underpay them for their work. For the aspiring African American artists, this made it difficult to create a path to success in the recording industry; it was a modern apprenticeship between a master and bond slave. “For the most part, Black people could only be found behind the scenes, writing many recorded hits but receiving little money, fame or credit for their work (2018). Artists that were affected like Broonzy, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong, captured the spotlight of the early history of racism towards African American artists in the American music industry.

Another demographic affected by racism in the history of the music industry are Asian Americans in the specific category of hip hop music. The article “Asian Americans in Hip Hop” explains the lack of recognition that Asian Americans receive in the history and creation of hip hop in America. For a majority of reasons, Asian Americans, to many people, do not play a role in the creation of hip hop music. African Americans hold that recognition; however, the aforementioned article explains that Asian Americans were and are currently excluded from the creation of hip hop culture from various social groups. “Hip hop was born in the 1970s in Bronx, New York City, with roots of African American, Afro-Caribbean, Black, and Latino artistic expressions as voices for Black and Latino urban communities” (Chan et al. 2018). However, the article also mentions that in the west coast, there were signs of hip hop creation through Filipino DJ’s and break dancers, but the invisibility is still evident and existent. Despite the obvious existence of Asian American involvement in the emergence of hip hop culture in America, different culture groups ignore their participation. The article explains that this could be caused by the stereotypes placed on Asians. They are misrepresented as educationally superior as a whole, and generally, males are stereotyped as computer or business entrepreneurs, while Asian women are seen as submissive objects. These incorrect conceptions of Asian Americans could be the reason that Asian Americans have not been seen as participants in the creation of hip hop culture in the United States.

The next social group that has received racial discrimination in the past is Native Americans. The historical past of Native Americans is ugly due to the White colonization of this group. White people stole land from Native Americans, and they forced the culture to evolve through cultural imperialism. This created a loss of the varying aspects of Native American culture, and this loss included most of the musical culture. However, despite the efforts of White colonizers, the Native American musical influence remained strong. Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. grew up as a Native American child who dealt with discrimination and racial unjust acts committed against him and his family. When he became an adult, he created an instrumental masterpiece called, “Rumble” “that would influence rock ’n’ roll musicians from Iggy Pop and Neil Young to Pete Townshend of The Who and Slash of Gun N’ Roses” (Contreras 2019). The article “Buried History: unearthing the influence of Native Americans on rock ’n’ roll” explains that the indigenous sounds of Native Americans created the foundation for the development of blues, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, and country music (Farber 2017). The article also revealed that the different artists’ sounds of Jimi Hendrix, Robbie Robertson, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn were influenced by Native American music as well. This revelation shows the true history of the American music industry, and the act of ignoring or simply not knowing the accurate foundations of music exemplifies the racism and denial of Native American culture in history and music specifically. The article also mentions that many Native American artists were forced to suppress their true ethnicity due to the racist climate of historic America. They would claim to be African American or White to keep the peace and achieve pure musical success. This abomination shows the utter lack of inclusion of varying cultures in the American music industry in the past, which leads to the exploration of the current climate of racism in the music industry.

The current climate of racism in the music industry involving African Americans has definitely improved since the beginning of the 20th century; however, there are issues that the social group continues to face. The Huffington Post writes that there are more Black independent artists than ever before, but certain music awards are predominantly full of White award recipients like the Oscars and the BRITs (Bruce 2017). Other discriminatory issues involving the police and certain political campaigns influenced backlash against this as well. African American artists deserve complete acceptance into the music industry. While there has been progress in terms of independent artists, the article mentions that African Americans are “tired of the fact that we are still living in an era where their accolades are celebrated being ‘the first Black Artist to achieve xyz,’ whilst their White counterparts continue to accomplish the same achievements on a constant basis” (2017). Other examples of blatant discrimination at different award ceremonies were mentioned in the article as well. The article explained that Beyoncé was nominated for a Grammy in the Rock Category, and people were outraged. She also performed at the Country Music Awards, despite not being a country artist. However, when Justin Timberlake similarly performed, there was no concern. People forget, or they are not aware, that country and rock and roll originated from blues music, a predominantly African American genre. The history of the music industry is crucial in understanding the current climate. Despite the remaining issues involving racism in the American music industry, there has been substantial progress through the success of Black independent artists compared to other artists signed to major labels.

Continuing on with the current climate of racism in the music industry, it is important to inspect the Asian American group. Differing from what was made clear in the historic past of racism against Asian Americans, the current climate has shifted but not far. Bruno Mars, with a Filipino and Puerto Rican background, is one of the few, if not only, leading Asian artists in the spotlight, but many people may not be aware of his ethnicity, and it is therefore, out of the popular view. Along with Mars, the K- pop group, BTS, has taken over the Asian music industry and landed high on the US charts as well. Both of these artists are supreme examples of successful Asian musicians, but that does not discount the hidden reason that there are not enough Asian Americans recognized by listeners in the music industry. An article by Splinter News explains that many Asian Americans appear as band members in many popular bands today, but it is rare to find an Asian American as a lead member. The article also mentions that although K-pop groups like BTS are making headway in music charts across the globe, and America specifically, their popularity may create a specific mold for Asian American bands (Aran et al. 2018). While Asian Americans’ success is monumental and substantial, Americans should be slow to place an image similar to current K-pop groups on every Asian artist that enters the spotlight.

The final current climate that should be examined is the Native American industry. As the historic past pointed out, Native Americans’ culture has been oppressed and intentionally eradicated by White people. However, history also reveals that many popular artists and genres were influenced by the Native American music culture. Today, this realization has become even clearer. Fred Lincoln Wray Jr.’s story is just one of the stories “featured in a documentary set to air on the PBS series ‘Independent Lens’ showing how Native Americans helped lay the foundations to rock, blues and jazz and shaped generations of musicians” (Contreras 2019). Stevie Salas, the Apache guitarist, is spearheading this production after investigating Native American artists post his involvement with Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger. Salas found Wray, as well as Jesse Ed Davis, “who performed with John Lennon” (2019). This documentary clears the path to realizations that Native Americans have made a more substantial impact on the music industry than people are aware of, but despite this trailblazer, there are still racial issues towards Native Americans in the music industry today. The music video for No Doubt’s “Looking Hot” song is a perfect example of the lack of consideration and blatant exploitation of Native American culture. Gwen Stefani dressed in Native American tribal attire and attached a negative view of the culture of Native Americans. Resulting from the massive amounts of outrage and backlash, the band was forced to remove it from the internet. This catastrophe shows that there are still racial issues that need to be addressed.

Finally, even though there are small steps being taken to achieve true equality among the races in the music industry of America, there are still walls surrounding these minority groups that need to be demolished. If America truly advocates for freedom and the opportunity to pursue any dream under the sun, change needs to occur for these minority artists. Looking into the future, with historic examples, generations can grow into adults who see the historic issues of the past and have the ability and passion to change the current culture. Changes like the uncovering documentary about Native American influence, the popularity of Asian bands reaching across seas, and the growing success of independent African American artists have the potential to shift the music industry culture and ultimately spur the ideal culture for the future of America and the world.

Works Cited

Aran, Isha, and Isha Aran. “America Is in Love With Asian Music, but Asian American Artists

Still Can't Catch a Break.” Splinter, Splinter, 9 July 2018, splinternews.com/america-is-

in-love-with-asian-music-but-asian-american-1823038498.

Blakemore, Erin. “How 'Race Records' Turned Black Music Into Big

Business.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/news/race-records-bessie-smith-big-bill-broonzy-music-business.

Bruce, Ryan J., and Ryan J. Bruce. “AND STILL WE RISE: How Racism Is Positioning Black

Artists For Independent Success.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 25 Apr. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/and-still-we-rise-how-racism-is-positioning-black_b_58f7bea6e4b071c2617f0204.

Chan, Kenneth, et al. Asian Americans in Hip Hop. Chinese American Museum, 18 May

2018, camla.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CAM-Zine-2018-Asian-Americans-in-Hip-Hop-Final.pdf.

Contreras, Russell. “Film Airing on PBS Highlights Native American Links to Rock.” AP

NEWS, Associated Press, 19 Jan. 2019, www.apnews.com/8ceedb376fa648fba2dd037abf1bc0af.

Farber, Jim. “'Buried History': Unearthing the Influence of Native Americans on

Rock'n'roll.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 July 2017, www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/19/native-americans-rock-n-roll-rumble-indians-who-rocked-the-world.