In the following Op-Ed, Sarah Page, an executive coach for women working behind the scenes in music, sets out why the industry needs to invest better in managerial training to level the playing field…
Artist development is fundamental to the music business. We recognise an artist’s potential, invest in their growth and think about the career they could build over time.
We understand that talent needs nurturing, yet we don’t always apply the same thinking to the people working behind the music.
The music industry has always been a place where people learn on the job. Whilst experience matters, it’s extraordinary how many people are expected to step into bigger roles without ever being given the training to do so. It’s hardly surprising that so many end up questioning whether they’re good enough. Learning on the job shouldn’t be a substitute for employers investing in their people.
I spent more than 20 years working in the music industry before retraining to become an executive coach.
The first decade of my career was in the major label world. I was always ambitious and I’d worked hard throughout my career. I reached a point where I wanted to become a leader, but I couldn’t see a path forward. I felt like I’d hit a glass ceiling. So, I took control of my career, backed myself and left to step into a director role.
More than 10 years later, I do wonder if things might have been different had the company invested in me and talked to me about where they saw my career going. Maybe I would have stayed, maybe I wouldn’t. But I might have felt there was a future for me there.
Among the women I coach, around 90% pay for their coaching themselves
Sarah Page
Since starting my business as an executive coach, I’ve chosen to work exclusively with women in the music industry. I’ve coached nearly 100 women one-to-one – from artist managers and live agents, to entrepreneurs and senior leaders.
According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF), nearly six in 10 coaching clients worldwide are employer sponsored. Yet among the women I coach, around 90% pay for their coaching themselves. Many of these women work for music companies. They’re investing in their own development, often without financial support from their employers.
Women are already investing in their development
You can see the appetite for it everywhere – from mentoring programmes like The Cat’s Mother and organisations such as Women In Music, to peer networks and WhatsApp groups where women share advice and opportunities.
I’m also seeing more women leave music companies and start businesses of their own. Some of these decisions are by choice, others follow the wave of redundancies we’ve seen across the industry.
We should be asking what might have encouraged some of these women to stay. When experienced women leave, companies lose years of knowledge, relationships and expertise. The industry risks losing future leaders.
In the UK, Creative PEC found that only 33% of people in management roles across the creative industries receive management training, compared with 44% across the wider UK economy.
Looking at workplace training more broadly, 82% of employees in UK financial services received training in 2024, according to the Government’s Employer Skills Survey.
Music, thankfully, isn’t banking, and I don’t want it to be. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from how other industries develop their people. Poor leadership doesn’t just affect those in charge; it affects the people they manage and can drive talented people out of the business.
When experienced women leave, companies lose years of knowledge, relationships and expertise
Sarah Page
Labels invest in artists expecting a return. Developing people may be harder to measure, but better leaders build stronger teams and businesses.
The music industry is a business, and the bottom line matters. But let’s not forget whose hard work helps deliver those results. Women are contributing to the success of music companies every day, yet too many are being left to invest in their own futures. That needs to change.
Whether you’re leading a team inside a major organisation or running a business of your own, being brilliant at your job doesn’t automatically make you a brilliant leader.
Where are the women at the top?
Women are well represented in many parts of the music industry, but the further up you look, the picture changes.
In the US, research from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found women held 44% of VP and head positions across the music companies it studied. That fell to 38% at EVP, SVP and GM level, and 26% at chief and president level.
At the very top, among CEOs and presidents at the 37 largest companies studied, 84% were white men.
Music companies need to take a more active role in developing their people
Sarah Page
Those figures are US-based, but the issues extend across the industry. Women need opportunities to develop, sponsors who champion their progression and support to build long-term careers.
We cannot keep expecting women to navigate their careers without adequate support and then wonder why so few reach the top. I know from experience what it feels like to reach a point where you can no longer see a way forward.
Developing people should be part of the business
Let’s be clear: coaching isn’t going to fix the gender imbalance in music on its own. I help women develop as leaders and back themselves, but the music industry is still very much a boys’ club at the top. Women shouldn’t have to work twice as hard to get the same opportunities. The industry needs to take responsibility for changing that.
Artists learn their craft through experience, too. But when we recognise their potential, we understand the value of putting expertise around them, creating opportunities and thinking about the career, not just the next release.
We need to bring that same intention to developing the women working behind the music.
Music companies need to take a more active role in developing their people – from providing coaching and leadership training, to creating clear paths for progression and ensuring women have sponsors who will champion them.
We shouldn’t wait until a woman is stuck, overlooked, exhausted or halfway out of the door before we start asking what she needs to grow. I know what it feels like to be that woman.
Artist development is part of the music business. Executive development should be, too.
