Bose works to boost gender parity in music production

Dive Brief:

Bose on March 1 launched "Turn the Dial," an initiative focused on addressing the barriers causing gender disparity in music production, according to a press release.
Bose will work with non-profit She Is The Music to create a board comprised of musicians, A&R executives and producers that will build a pipeline for the next generation of women and non-binary producers. The audio company will provide production kits to people in the She Is The Music network.
The initiative was inspired by research that found only 2.8% of popular songs from the last decade were produced by women. To boost the effort, Bose will launch a campaign featuring musicians H.E.R., PinkPantheress, BLOND:ISH and WondaGurl that will run across digital and social platforms.

Dive Insight:

On the first day of Women's History Month, Bose took aim at an under-explored gender gap with the launch of its “Turn the Dial” initiative which seeks to raise awareness and increase opportunities for women and non-binary music producers. Bose's own research found that only 2.3% of Top 100 hits in 2022 were produced by women — a decrease from an already abysmal 2.8% found in other research.

"Like music producers, Bose has a passionate group of people who, through their craft, seek to create amazing audio experiences for people to enjoy. This is why we're driven to add our voice to the conversation and bring attention to the issue," said in the press release.

The initiative takes several forms. In partnership with the non-profit organization She Is The Music, Bose has created the Sound is Power Impact Board, comprised of music industry figures that will look to elevate women and non-binary music producers who can submit their music for quarterly review. As part of the partnership, Bose will provide hundreds of production kits, including software and headphones, to musicians in the non-profit's network.

To promote the effort, Bose launched a digital and social campaign and content series. A 60-second spot that debuted at the Billboard Women in Music Awards on March 1 features H.E.R., PinkPantheress, BLOND:ISH and WondaGurl, with music written and arranged by H.E.R. and additional production by WondaGurl.

“Turn the Dial” follows other campaigns that have sought to help close gender gaps in a variety of settings, like Bacardi's NFT-based effort that aimed to shine a light on the underrepresentation of women in music production. In general, purpose-driven marketing around gender issues has seemingly taken a backseat amid increased consumer polarization and other challenges of the post-COVID landscape.