BBC doco exposes toxic culture in music industry

The music industry still isn’t a safe place to work for many women, and powerful older men continue to take advantage of younger artists and professionals just trying to chase their dreams.

Those are some of the painful truths exposed in the BBC’s documentary Music’s Dirty Secrets: Women Fight Back, which launched Wednesday via its iPlayer app.

Through her probe, journalist Tamanna Rahman explores a toxic culture — predominantly in the U.K. and U.S. — where predators promise life-changing support in exchange for sexual favours, and where young female voices are drowned out.

Based on new interviews, Rahman speaks to victims who’ve been harassed with inappropriate messages, unwanted sexual advances or faced violence and rape, then offered hush money or threatened into keeping quiet.

The documentary investigates Octavian, whose debut album release was cancelled by record label Black Butter and grime artist Solo 45, who’s described by the Corporation as “one of music’s most dangerous men” and is currently serving 30 years in prison for imprisoning, torturing, assaulting and raping a number of victims.

At the top, Music’s Dirty Secrets scrutinises the background to Erick Morillo’s reported sexual battery, and his history of abusive behaviour, which others in his circle were aware of.

The Corporation’s new investigation was ignited when Rahman put out a post asking for feedback from women working in the industry. The stories flooded in, some were “shocking,” she says.

Questions are also asked of labels and management connected with the alleged offenders, and what they knew, when.

If there’s a positive, Rahman points out, it’s that cancel culture is doing its part to hold perpetrators accountable.

None of the case studies explored in the new documentary involved Australians or New Zealanders.

Nearly half of all musicians face sexual harassment while going about their business, according to a study published by U.K.’s Musicians’ Union in 2019, and referenced in the BBC report.

According to the MU’s findings, some 85 per cent of victims said they feared taking action over the abuse because of “the culture of the industry” and the ramifications speaking out could have on their careers.

Read more here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.