A new agency representing gender minority composers has launched in London.
Operated by Register, a music agency specialising in licensing and music supervision, 515 is a new venture dedicated to representing female and gender minority composers, artists, producers and sound designers.
Only 2.8% of music producers are female, according to a study conducted last year by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, dropping to just 0.7% for women of colour. The same analysis showed that between 2013 and 2022, only 7% of Hollywood films were scored by women.
Register founders Hollie Hutton and Hannah Charman said they started 515 to “open more doors for the underrepresented sectors of the composition talent pool”.
“We discovered, over the course of our careers, that the same handful of people were winning most of the work and that not enough gender-minority composers were even being pitched on projects."
Despite this, the Register team reports an increasing demand for female and gender minority composers.
Emily Richardson, Head of 515, said: “We’ve frequently been asked to scout them for film and TV projects and would continue to support them throughout the process, acting as agents. So we ended up thinking, ‘Why don’t we make this official?’”
“515 has been built on integrity. There’s so much amazing untapped talent out there. We really believe in what we’re doing and the potential to open filmmakers’ ears to a new world of composers while also making a change in the industry.”
“I really do think that in 10 years’ time, the industry will look very different, and I strongly believe that this starts at grassroots level,” added Richardson.
“We need to be creating pipeline opportunities and encouraging people to take them. Those who are already here should be actively making the industry more inclusive, unlearning systemic biases, having equal representation at senior and board levels, and always having diversity front of mind.”