Music industry executives say artists aren't treated fairly

by Richard Howard

August 26, 2015

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The less surprising results are that execs despise rap and love Taylor Swift.

You know that kid you went to school with that was blissfully unaware he was a total dick – and as much as you disliked him, you couldn’t hate him quite as much as that other kid who was clearly aware what a douche-rocket he was? Well, it turns out music industry executives are totally the second kid.

In Billboard‘s inaugural survey polling over 50 “top executives in music,” the publication addressed a number of “temperature-taking topics” including whether the execs believed the music industry was fair to artists. Mind blowingly, nearly 60% of respondents said “No” (presumably while chortling and chomping on a cigar later to be extinguished on a portrait of Little Richard).

This isn’t the only way the polling is creating a furor, though. Eyebrows are being raised at a number of the answers given, including rap (one of the industry’s most popular genres) being the “most despised” among the execs. Taylor Swift was named as the artist most desirable to sign if they were starting a label. Lastly, more than half of respondents said they’d leave their positions for a similar paying job at non-artist related outfits Apple and Spotify.

Many feel that the real story, however, is what they perceive to be Billboard hitting rock bottom. The Guardian and other media outlets have argued that the results suggest the sample of execs was heavily skewed towards one demographic (read: white people). Moreover, a leak of the survey itself showed the executives were presented a number of questions that ranged from the infantile (“Do you root for Taylor Swift?”,”Who is the most devious executive in the music industry?”) to the downright messed up (“Who do you believe: (i) Kesha [or] (ii) Dr Luke?” in reference to Ke$sha’s sexual assault allegations and her former manager’s extortion countersuit).

Mega-manager Irving Azoff gave his thoughts to the New York Post, and he was pretty ruthless: “If Billboard wants to survey the music industry, they should ask people in the biz what they think about their publication. Maybe then they’d understand how fully they’ve turned a formerly respected brand into an irrelevant joke.” The results are set to be released in their entirety in Billboard’s September 19 issue.

Tags: Music, News, billboard, executives, survey, Taylor Swift

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