✘ Diversity to Inclusion - Kendrick Lamar and Chineke!And: Casual viewing; Longevity for music-tech companies; Cultural resilience in Kosovo; Adjusting the music compass; State of gamification
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion is a hot topic - especially with the new rule of law in the USA. But it’s been a hot topic for a long time now. Stories pop up from the music industry where it’s clear that we’re still both far from being diverse, let alone being inclusive. It seems more important than ever to talk about what these words actually mean nowadays, and how we can set up towards a truly diverse and inclusive music industry. Because, let’s face it, it’s still dominated by white males who are mostly veering closer to pension age than anything else. Kendrick at the SuperbowlSo much has already been written about this, my favourites being Mat Ombler about the gaming element and the WIRED interview with Shelley Rodgers, art director for the Halftime show. One key element that Shelley brought to the table:
And it was cool, right? The Playstation-style icons, the way he had a different vibe in the circle versus the square, etc. The voice of reason of Uncle Sam added a dash of inner voice monologue. But my question is more whether this show was diverse. If you look at the MAGA reaction, it definitely wasn’t - “what no caucasians!” I guess in that sense it wasn’t, but it was very inclusive. It showcased an artist and a team focused on bringing a culture to the fore. This is what that sounds like and looks like on one of the biggest stages of the world.
Diversity isn’t inclusionAnother example of creating a space for culture which isn’t dominant is the Chineke! Orchestra in the UK. For anyone with eyes, classical music isn’t the most diverse culture in the world. And yet, it’s just music and therefor definitely for everyone regardless of what you look like or who your parents are. The Chineke! recently held a survey among its own musicians that brought these issues into sharp focus:
And then the positive impact of having an orchestra that specifically focuses on inclusion instead of mere diversity:
This is an impact that’s hard to measure, but will show itself in an increase in a diverse group of young people taking up instruments and joining orchestras - or other music groups - when they grow up. It’s a long-term investment and it’s hard to imagine what this would look like without forcing it to happen. Traditional places of work like orchestras - where just 60 years ago there were hardly any female musicians - are most likely not the best positioned to create places of inclusivity without examples. Back to KendrickBy creating a show that took viewers through his own lived experience, Kendrick created a place of inclusivity. This conversation isn’t about diversity of voices but by taking a place where certain voices usually aren’t heard and allowing them to tell their story their way. I’ll paraphrase Frank Douglas, chair of the Chineke! Foundation, at the recent ABO conference: diversity can result in assimilation or inclusion. The former means that diverse voices start acting as tradition dictates. The latter means that tradition morphs into something new that includes these differing voices. LINKS📺 Casual viewing - Why Netflix looks like that (Will Tavlin)“One tag among Netflix’s thirty-six thousand microgenres offers a suitable name for this kind of dreck: “casual viewing.” Usually reserved for breezy network sitcoms, reality television, and nature documentaries, the category describes much of Netflix’s film catalog — movies that go down best when you’re not paying attention, or as the Hollywood Reporter recently described Atlas, a 2024 sci-fi film starring Jennifer Lopez, “another Netflix movie made to half-watch while doing laundry.” A high-gloss product that dissolves into air. Tide Pod cinema.” ✘ This is a long-read and not about music - but it’s an excellent piece of analysis. Moreover, it resonates hard with ‘casual listening’. Like the casual viewing discussed in this piece about Netflix, music streaming leads most people to not pay attention to the music they’re listening to. From there, DSPs optimize for ‘time spent’ and quality is out of the window. 🛟 Longevity for tech companies in music (Mathilde Neu)“Successful musictech solutions share a common thread: they’re designed to solve specific, well-defined problems industry professionals face. This user-centric approach is what separates fleeting trends from enduring innovations.” ✘ A great call from Mathilde to avoid hype cycles and focus on building towards sustainable and innovative business models. 👣 Kosovo’s path: Elections, independence, and cultural resilience (Manon Moulin)“Independence celebrations, election results, and economic instability have been the rhythm of Kosovan life in recent days, weeks, and years. Despite these challenges that push young journalists and artists to leave Kosovo, the country “still has a very vibrant independent scene with youth movements and media initiatives that are striving to contribute to a better cultural social environment,” concludes Sadie Suhodolli. As Europe’s newest country paves its political way, its independent cultural and media scene is indeed trying to find its place to exist without surviving, and it looks like the answer is once again collective, with the community of each project at its core.” ✘ Great insight into a country that I’m assuming most readers won’t be very knowledgeable about. As democracy is currently challenged across the world, the role of independent culture grows ever more important to create space for critical thinking. 🧭 Adjusting the music compass (Virgo Sillamaa)“We need this to argue why a thriving culturally diverse undergrowth – valuable in its own right – is also useful for the layers of a more commercial “tradable economy”. Also, how the cultural diversity dividend of the private music economy sphere, from the very independent artists to smaller and bigger companies, often dismissed wholesale as the commercial “popular” music sector, is at least as important as the economic one.” ✘ Music policy matters, and at the political level requires new visions and metaphors to help push for positive outcomes. Virgo argues strongly for an ecosystem approach to help understand the variety of layers in the music industry (nee, industries) and how they intersect. 🎮 State of gamification pt. 1 - What’s the point? (Norah Rami)“But for all the novel, unique mechanisms of play out there, big tech seems to have settled on a singular formula for gamification: give everything points. Duolingo rewards experience points (XP) for completed lessons and ups your “streak” for each day in a row you log on. Tracking apps like Goodreads or Strava turn each book you read or mile you run into a point toward a broader goal. Social media works this way, too, with users themselves generating points in the form of likes and follows.” ✘ Too often gamification ends up in what Norah here talks about: pointsification - in the words of Margaret Robertson. I’m also reminded of Cherie Hu’s excellent piece on gamification in 2021. These are all calls to understand gamification not as a simple trick, but as a holistic integration into broader community aspects to create a force for good. MUSICIn light of my piece about inclusion, I want to highlight Ayanna Witter-Johnson - a frequent collaborator with the Chineke! Orchestra. Together with the London Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble she created music (I’m personally especially impressed with the effects of Ocean Floor) that brings the listener deep into her world. Allow yourself to dive into her imagination.  MUSIC x is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell MUSIC x that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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