Black U.K. Music Executives Form Coalition for Anti-Racist Reform

Black U.K. music executives from companies including Warner, Sony, Universal Music Group, BMG, Live Nation, Spotify and the Music Managers Forum have joined to publish a letter calling for immediate industry reform to eradicate racism and marginalization within the music industry, according to The Guardian.

The letter and its signatories can be read in full on IQ Magazine. It calls for, among other things, the replacement of the term “Urban Music” with “Black Music,” mandatory anti-racism/unconscious bias training for non-Black employees across the music industry and career development implementation for Black staffers in order to address the lack of diversity among the music industry’s senior management level.

Warner Music Group, Republic Records, and iHeartMedia Inc. have all pledged to phase out the use of “urban” for hip-hop or R&B music. The Grammys, additionally, have renamed the “Urban Contemporary” category to “Progressive R&B,” while also renaming its “Latin Pop” category to “Latin Pop and Urban.”