Legislation Addressing Sexual Harassment in Music Business Has Been Killed
Legislation designed to protect people in the music industry (and other industries) from sexual harassment died Wednesday in the state House. Republicans on the Consumer and Human Resources Subcommittee seemed to have no idea what it did or how it would work — or how the music industry works, or why people just can't stop getting sexually harassed in the first place.
The bill, HB 1984, was introduced after the national groundswell of workplace sexual harassment accusations began last fall but largely bypassed Nashville. As sometime Scene contributor Marissa R. Moss reported in Rolling Stone Country in January, harassment is common in the country music radio environment, and young female artists are pushed by their labels or agents to ignore sexual overtures from DJs and producers in order to get their songs on the air. But unless you are someone like Taylor Swift, with a massive fan base, financial resources and contracts negotiated fully in your favor, it's hard to sue when you're harassed.
If someone as powerful as Swift is getting groped by a radio host, you know worse is happening to other women (and some men, too). The problem for artists working as independent contractors for companies headquartered in Tennessee — like Swift, who is signed to Nashville's Big Machine Records — is that state law dictates that unless it's specifically written into a contract, a contractor does not have the same protection under the law as a full-time employee, no many how hours he or she might work.
If you're, say, a multiple CMA-winner, you've got the leverage to negotiate your contracts with labels and other business entities — which doesn't mean you won't get harassed, but you'll have a clearer path to the legal ability to do something about it. But if you're a nobody trying to get that first big break, just trying to prove that you can write or perform a hit song, not only do you not have leverage to negotiate contracts, you very possibly can't afford a lawyer in the first place. (Which is a large part of the reason why the music industry has a long-documented history of screwing over artists, financially or otherwise.)
Read more: https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/20996455/legislation-addressing-sexual-harassment-in-music-business-has-been-killed