THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING—AGAIN

In the intro to its analysis of the Bible’s 2018 Power 100, Hypebot points out that only one woman—Jody Gerson—is named in the Top 25 in a standalone role, and just four more share billing in an otherwise all-male team. “While reflective of the industry,” the writer notes, “the list seems particularly tone-deaf appearing on the same day that the trade reported on a new study of the ‘Major Lack of Representation by Women in the Music Industry’” released by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

The term “tone-deaf” aptly describes this faux pas, but Billboard is hardly the only representative of the music business to display—by omission or commission—insensitivity in responding to the diversity issues confronting us, whether gender-driven or racial in nature.

The good news is that there’s a palpable feeling of change in the air, one that has been heightened by ongoing outrage at the words and actions of the current President (or *President, as Esquire renders it), breeding a new wave of activism.

At this pivotal moment, as influencers by virtue of the business we’re in, each of us needs to be acutely aware of the aforementioned issues and bears the responsibility to do whatever we can to foster positive change. Because, as Eldridge Cleaver famously stated a half century ago, “There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem.”