NEW YORK (AP) — The Recording Academy’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion is launching a new initiative to create and expand more opportunities to female music producers and engineers.
The academy on Friday announced the Producer & Engineer Inclusion Initiative, which asks that musicians, record labels and others consider at least two female producers or engineers when working on a project, whether it’s a song or an album.
More than 200 have already pledged, including Lady Gaga, Pearl Jam, Quincy Jones, Justin Bieber, Pharrell Williams and Ariana Grande.
A 2018 USC Annenberg study revealed that only 2 percent of music producers and 3 percent of engineers are women.
The new task force comes after Grammys CEO Neil Portnow said women need to “step up” at last year’s awards show.
