The Billboard Women in Music Awards returned to YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on March 1, 2023. Emmy-winning writer/actress Quinta Brunson hosted the ceremony honoring the innovative women who are shaping music today.
This year, Billboard and Bose teamed up to create the first-ever Producer of the Year Award. During Quinta Brunson’s introduction of the award presentation she debuted Bose’s “Turn The Dial” campaign, which was created to shed light on the jarring statistics of gender inequity in music and drive an industry commitment to closing the gap.
“The latest study from Dr. Stacy Smith’s Inclusionists initiative at USC Annenberg, which examines gender parity in the music industry, was just released and the stats do not tell a good story. Across 8 years, and 800 songs, only 2.8% of all producers were women, while 97.1% were men. That’s a ratio of 34.1 men to every one woman. And 94.8% of the songs examined didn’t have even one woman producer credited!”
Brunson also gave a shout-out to Bose CEO Lila Snyder for her work as a woman CEO in spaces that are often dominated by men. Snyder was interviewed by Billboard Music Publishing Reporter Kristin Robinson on the red carpet. The industry won’t see true change until more women across all positions in music are able to be heard.
In 2019, Rosalía was honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award. But in addition to her skills as a singer, songwriter and dancer, Rosalía also produces music. Since her first win at Women in Music, ROSALÍA has evolved into one of the most dynamic, versatile artists in the world. She has production credits on some of her biggest tracks and latest hits, including SAOKO and Despecha, her first solo Hot 100 hit. In addition to using her voice to create music, she’s been outspoken about the bias against women producers in the industry.
After thanking God, her family, and her team, ROSALÍA made sure Women in Music viewers understood the work it took to become a great producer. Producers don’t typically receive the same praise as artists and ROSALÍA highlighted this in her acceptance speech.
“A producer’s job is a job in the shadow, it’s not very fun … it’s 15 hours a day working on a sound. It comes from love and obsession and that’s why you stay in that small room with no windows while everyone else is living life and doing regular human s–t, while we are in the studio for hours and hours looking for the perfect snare.”
She cited iconic women producers like Björk and Missy Elliot as early sources of inspiration and dedicated the award to the next generation of women producers.
The Producer of the Year Award is just one of the many ways Bose is showing up for women in music production. Bose’s Turn the Dial campaign includes interviews with four iconic women producers such as H.E.R., WondaGurl, PinkPantheress, and Blondish. WondaGurl was in attendance at Women in Music to present the Producer of the Year Award to ROSALÍA. Check out Bose’s Turn the Dial campaign here and stay tuned for more content from Billboard and Bose.
