A multibillion-dollar industry that refused to diversify
Black artists in Country Music have felt too vulnerable to speak out about the racism they have been facing - until now. Andrea Williams opens the floodgates.
On June 2, Beverly Keel, the dean of Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment, and Dr. Sekou Franklin, an author and professor in MTSU’s Department of Political Science, hosted an online conversation with six professionals to discuss what it’s like to be Black in Nashville’s music industry. The panel included Charlene Bryant, founder of Riveter Management; Mickey Guyton, country artist; Gina Miller, senior vice president and general manager of gospel-focused record label Entertainment One Nashville; Shannon Sanders, Recording Academy trustee and program director at 102.1 The Ville; Kortney Toney, corporate partnerships manager for the Nashville Symphony; and Candice Watkins, vice president of marketing for country label Big Loud Records.
Even without considering what was said during the conversation, the panel’s very existence was monumental.
In the fall of 2018, I was working on a story for the Nashville Business Journal that would explore the lack of racial diversity in the offices of country music labels and publishers. Country music, a genre born of Black musical traditions, has intentionally kept its stages nearly all-white. But even as this issue receives periodic rumblings in the media, there is little talk about what’s happening behind the scenes, in the offices of the decision makers who ultimately reinforce this whitewashing... Keep reading on Nashville Scene
On June 2, Beverly Keel, the dean of Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment, and Dr. Sekou Franklin, an author and professor in MTSU’s Department of Political Science, hosted an online conversation with six professionals to discuss what it’s like to be Black in Nashville’s music industry. The panel included Charlene Bryant, founder of Riveter Management; Mickey Guyton, country artist; Gina Miller, senior vice president and general manager of gospel-focused record label Entertainment One Nashville; Shannon Sanders, Recording Academy trustee and program director at 102.1 The Ville; Kortney Toney, corporate partnerships manager for the Nashville Symphony; and Candice Watkins, vice president of marketing for country label Big Loud Records.
Even without considering what was said during the conversation, the panel’s very existence was monumental.
In the fall of 2018, I was working on a story for the Nashville Business Journal that would explore the lack of racial diversity in the offices of country music labels and publishers. Country music, a genre born of Black musical traditions, has intentionally kept its stages nearly all-white. But even as this issue receives periodic rumblings in the media, there is little talk about what’s happening behind the scenes, in the offices of the decision makers who ultimately reinforce this whitewashing... Keep reading on Nashville Scene