The Black Music Coalition are taking on racism in the music industry

As a broadcaster, I’ve had the privilege of bearing witness to the birth and maintained wins
of some of the UK’s biggest success stories from the music industry. Best-selling artists,
game-changing radio stations, innovative new labels, ambitious live events, fearless
management, shrewd A&R and marketing, the list really does go on.

We are a generation of voracious consumers, we relish in the celebration of those with the
mic in their hand however our platforming of the pivotal figures behind the scenes pales in
comparison to that of our favourite stars and when we do know about them, surprise...they
are men!

When I know the Black women who are being celebrated in the piece you are about to read
have been there all along, forging unique and powerful paths in a culture that constantly
uses Black womanhood as a creative resource and an industry that still isn’t completely level when it comes to how we are represented in the boardroom and beyond. These women are fighters and undoubtedly instrumental in changing history for the generation that is coming up with and behind them.

Despite the ever-present misogyny and racism that can tell us we are “too much” or “not
the right type of” I will always believe that being a Black woman is a gift. Our superpower is
in our diversity, there is no one way to be us and that’s the proverbial “magic” you’ve heard
about.

So, the next time you stream their artists, tune in to your favourite show, rave, sing your
heart out at a gig, I hope the contribution of these Black women remains warmly etched
into your psyche and that they be hidden figures no more!

– Clara Amfo

Making it out of the WhatsApp group chat is an ambition that many of us know all too well. But for the Black Music Coalition (BMC), they made this goal a reality. Since starting a group chat in 2020, the award-winning organisation has cut through the performative black squares and lukewarm statements of solidarity in the face of racial injustice within the music industry. 

Now, three years on from the BMC’s inception and with partnerships with the Barbican, Soho House and Abbey Road Studios already under their belt, co-founders Char Grant, Afryea Henry-Fontaine, Komali Scott-Jones and Sheryl Nwosu are ready for the next phase of their collective.

On November 20, the BMC launched a new membership offering consisting of Black-led HR support, studio access via Qube, therapy, financial advisory services and more, marking another step towards fostering greater belonging for Black people within an industry that has not been designed with their success in mind. If that wasn’t enough to keep the quartet busy, HERstory is a new project in partnership with Sony Music UK that celebrates unsung Black women who have been the lifeblood of the UK music industry and beyond. Those honoured include artist manager Grace Ladoja who has spearheaded Skepta’s career behind the scenes as well as co-founding Metallic Inc and developing the Homecoming Festival, a thriving cultural bridge between Africa and the world and Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s first Black female director of music.

We caught up with the BMC executive members to talk about their journey up to this point, as well as why their new membership programme and HERstory are so vital to the Black British experience in music.

For those who might not be familiar with the BMC, what would you say is your role within the music industry?

Sheryl Nwosu: I would say our role is as the check and balance to the industry. From our inception in 2020, we were quite clear that we are for Black music executives, and we are standing against anti-Black racism.

Now that we’re three years old, we remain as that check and balance to ensure that the industry is keeping up with its pledges. But we also function in a second way – as a safe space for Black executives to talk to us about everything they go through in their professional lives, which can often leak into their personal lives.

Afryea Henry-Fontaine: One of the other things that we’ve been really committed to is celebrating the contribution of Black people in the music industry as a whole. We did an exhibition around the legacy of families within the music industry at the Barbican music library and HERstory, which is about celebrating the contributions of Black execs in particular, in the industry, and so I think that’s another element to who we are and what we stand for, because I think often Black people aren’t celebrated in the way that they should be for their contributions.

I definitely noticed in 2020, there were lots of job roles for diversity officers. Since then a lot of these people are either being made redundant or have received less funding. Are you seeing that things are being scaled back since 2020?

Char Grant: I think on the surface, there are still many areas of progression and hires across the business. Artists are perceivably doing well but I think that there are still issues around career progression, or for independent artists to have access to the same level of funding or access to the services and getting the visibility they need on their record., It can still be skewed heavily away from Black artists. So then that trickles into the creatives, the teams, the managers around them or the executives who are signing them not being able to progress as quickly because access to commercial value, which is what underpins this industry, is limited for them in different ways.

But on the flip side, we’re still here. And I think that there are still organisations and spaces that are fighting for and still screaming about the things that happened before 2020. We want to keep that energy alive so that we can create proper change.

“Music generates billions for the UK economy, it’s important to highlight the role Black women have played” – Komali Scott-Jones

What would you say have been the biggest barriers so far as a committee in terms of getting things done?

Char Grant: Funding is one of them. That’s the main one. We have a lot of contributors and support. But we need more funding.

Sheryl Nwosu: We’re not funded by the industry. We personally don’t seek general funding from the industry, just because we don’t want to be beholden or there to be any conflicts of interest.

Afryea Henry-Fontaine: And also, as you mentioned, the scaling back of particular roles. I think in the first instance of 2020, there was obviously a lot of ‘lean in’ from allies and lots of ‘we’re engaged, we’re involved, we’re supporting, we’re there, we’re on the front line.’

‘We’re listening and learning.’

Afryea Henry-Fontaine: Our most favourite phrase – not! But I think that leaning in from allies in some spaces has also scaled back. The show is no longer paused and people are fully back in the swing of the business. But as Char so rightly said, we’re still here three years on and still as committed as we were the day that the organisation was founded. And so we have to be super creative and innovative in how we push the organisation forward because, as much as we would love to be able to bank on funding or support from bigger organisations or entities, that’s just not possible.

So you spoke of pushing things forward. I’d love for you to talk a bit more about your new membership offering and why you decided to implement that.

Komali Scott-Jones: I think membership is just a really important next step in terms of the creation of the BMC. How we started was really born out of this really obvious need after that first call that we orchestrated with the wider Black music community during June 2020 of that need for solidarity and a way for our voices to be lifted where they’re so often lost under the noise and the urge by the industry to suppress uncomfortable, ugly things.

We felt like membership was the most natural next step to ensure that some of those issues are being addressed. I think membership is going to consolidate a lot of the groundwork we put in over the last three years and allow people to have a sense of belonging and a pathway to the career that they deserve to have, and we just can’t really afford to lose any more talent at any level of the business. It’s the younger ones that we need to empower, but also for the more established execs, we’re losing a lot of Black women, particularly at the top end of the business because they’re being squeezed out.

Sheryl Nwosu: One of the important things I think membership will give to us is that community that we build. The bigger the membership pool grows, the more nuance and understanding of what’s really going on across the industry there’ll be.

Komali Scott-Jones: We exist for the Black music community, as well as improving the industry as a whole, so it’s really important that we continue what we started in 2020. We will continue to champion the voices of those that aren’t heard and be the mouthpiece for them, rather than running off on any separate agenda. It’s for us, by us.

And I guess people only really have exposure to what they can see as the music industry is so vast.

Afryea Henry-Fontaine: There are so many Black executives who are the only ones in their organisation or in their department, and they’re incredibly isolated. I think it’s really challenging to come to work as your full self, when there isn't anybody else that you can connect with on a cultural level as well. One of the things that I think will be most powerful about that community that we build is that people will find a home. They’ll have access to HR support that is culturally sensitive and is not going to gaslight them about the experience that they’re having.

Char Grant: I think it’s also about having access to your peers in a way that isn’t sort of defined by where you work. We’ve all built careers and relationships laterally. This is a space for people to meet each other and forge those relationships so they can give each other opportunities in the future, which is key. It’s key and important to their own growth that they’re not relying on their boss for those networking opportunities. They can create their own.

I want to talk a little bit about HERstory as well. Where did the idea of that come from? And why was it so important to celebrate Black women in music?

Komali Scott-Jones: It’s quite natural because just by the virtue of the BMC being led by four Black women, we also have an amazing assistant – Rainar, who is a crucial part of our operation and the space that we’ve created for ourselves has taught us so much along this journey and in how Black women navigate.

We all have full-time jobs. This isn’t our career, so to speak. So I think Black womanhood is central to what the BMC has achieved so far. Also it’s just an area that is continually underrepresented within the music industry, both on the artist side and the executive side.

A personal passion point is that we want to ensure that the women who have blazed a trail through the music industry in the UK for decades and inspiring those to come is really key because we’re often the first to be shut out of the room and then the first to get called in for the cleanup. And we’re more than that. 

What sets these women apart for you?

Komali Scott-Jones: This is a celebration and recognition of the shoulders the future generation of talented Black women stand on: women who have blazed a trail where very few, if any, before them were able to take up space and achieve remarkable success against the odds. 

Music generates billions for the UK economy, it’s important to highlight the role Black women have played. Many have flown under the radar and we can’t underestimate the importance of giving them their flowers and sending a resounding message that they are deserving of their seat at the table.

There are many women who have left an indelible mark on the industry and we’re dedicated to giving them their flowers while inspiring a new generation of powerful thinkers. 

Afryea Henry-Fontaine: There’s been a bit of a myth that Black women don’t support each other or can’t work together. And I think to be able to have a Black female-led organisation, passionate and championing other Black women and wanting to give them their flowers, I think is a really special moment.

Sign up to the Black Music Coalition’s membership programme here.

Styling LAURIE HADLEIGH, make-up COURTNEY REECE-SCOTT, JAYNE IONICA, NAKIYA BROWN O.B.O RAGE BEAUTY, set design MARIANA ‘MARS’ JAGUITE, photographic assistant JASMIJJN VAN BUYTENE, set design assistant ABISADE BHADMUS, with thanks to BENJART, DAILY PAPER, HOUSE OF CB, NIKE AND FENTY BEAUTY, also to JAMILA NABUKEERA, NEGLA ABDELA AND GLYN AIKINS (SONY MUSIC UK); curators and executive producers KOMALI SCOTT-JONES, CHAR GRANT, AFRYEA HENRY-FONTAINE AND SHERYL NWOSU O.B.O THE BLACK MUSIC COALITION