Alicia Keys Calls Out Music Industry As A ‘Good Old Boy Network’
“The music world becomes a good old boy network, and all the incredible women working as engineers and producers are not given an open door."
Black News 
Alicia Keys has created the soundtrack for women’s empowerment, and she walks the walk for the ladies who make up a small percentage of the music industry.
The 17-time Grammy Award-winning musician, philanthropist, art collector, and woman of many hats got candid in a recent interview, recalling how difficult the music industry can be toward women, including the “boys’ club” nature of the business.
“The music world becomes a good old boy network, and all the incredible women working as engineers and producers are not given an open door,” she told The Times of London in an interview, according to Variety. “Women make up 2 percent of the entire business. I’m a producer, and here we are, doing a bunch of work, killing it, so it’s shocking that the number is so small. Rather than just being pissed off about that, it was time to create opportunities.”
As the co-founder of She Is the Music, a non-profit organization launched alongside Universal Music Publishing Group CEO Jody Gerson, engineer Ann Minicieli, and WME partner Samantha Kirby Yoh, Keys aims to increase the number of women in music—especially songwriters, producers, and engineers—very seriously.
Keys recounted that songs like “A Woman’s Worth,” “Girl On Fire,” and “Superwoman” weren’t created with the intention of them becoming feminist anthems.
“I didn’t aim to come up with feminist message songs, and most of them were written because I wasn’t feeling that strong, so I had to give myself a pep talk to keep going, but it is a thread through my work,” she said.
Her advocacy for the arts extends far beyond music. Recently, the “Giants” art exhibition, featuring pieces from the collection she owns alongside her husband, Kasseem Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.
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