Earlier this month, the Recording Academy Advocacy Team spent International Women's Day with Songwriter, Producer and Recording Artist, Caitlyn Smith and her team — giving them an inside look to their experiences as women in the music industry.

The team started the day with a visit from Smith and Casey Thomas, Monument Record's Director of Publicity and Creative, at the Recording Academy Advocacy office in Downtown Washington, D.C., where the Advocacy team, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department, and D.C. Chapter staff sat down with them to discuss what it's like to be a woman in the music industry.

As Caitlyn shared — and women artists everywhere can relate — when her music career was up and coming, she was often the only woman in the room. However, she was lucky to have plenty of female mentors who helped encourage her to speak up when making music.

It wasn't until working with a female-dominated team that she really understood how much more comfortable and freeing the music creation process can be when one is surrounded by people who can identify with oneself.

This experience is one felt by women across the entire music community. Last year, the Recording Academy partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) and Berklee College of Music Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE) to produce the Women in the Mix study — aimed at understanding the experiences and socio-economic landscape of women and gender expansive individuals working in the American music industry.

This study found that 95% of respondents felt that mentorship is important to advancing within the music industry and 77% felt they had been treated differently in the music industry because of their gender.

The conversation didn't stop there. Later that day, the entire group headed to the RIAA office for an event hosted by said organization, along with the Recording Academy, the National Music Publishers' Association, and the Congressional Creative Rights Caucus, where Caitlyn and her all-women team participated in a panel to continue the discussion on women's experience in music.

In addition to Smith, the panel consisted of Engineer and Producer, and Recording Academy Nashville Chapter Governor, Gena Johnson; Vice President of A&R Universal Music Publishing Nashville, Missy Roberts; Manager of GM Monument Records, Katie McCartney; and was moderated by USA Today's National Music Writer, Melissa Ruggieri.

Each of the panelists discussed their early days in music and although each had a different path, all of them had one thing in common — they've each experienced being outnumbered and outspoken by the men in the room.

When asked if the panel had any advice for women, Johnson emphasized this sentiment by stating how women are often asking for permission, whether it is to be in the room or to have a voice in the music process; however, she hopes women everywhere can realize that they have just as much right to be in the room as the men.

Moreover, each of the panelists highlighted the need for a safe space where artists can be vulnerable in the studio because that is what leads to the best work and often isn't available to women. That is what sparked Johnson to build a studio in her home that could be an escape and safe place for artists to record. Smith, who spent a lot of time recording her upcoming album, High & Low, in Johnson's studio, discussed how helpful it was in the writing process to be able to be fully comfortable in the space you're creating in.

Despite the fact that High & Low was created by this all-women team, the overall numbers of women in music remain low. The Women in the Mix study reported only 21.6% of artists, 12.6% of songwriters and 2.6% of producers are women.

While the lack of women in the music industry is still an ongoing problem, the Recording Academy has proudly added 1,913 women to its voting membership and are now 77% of the way toward its goal of adding 2,500 women voting members by 2025. Additionally, nearly half of the nominees for the 2023 GRAMMYs were women.

Keep watching as the Recording Academy continues its work to amplify women's voices both during Women's History Month and throughout the entire year!

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