It’s unfortunate to learn that our heroes are susceptible to the pressures of money and power. But this can feel additionally jarring when the behavior our hero is accused of is the opposite of the persona and values they have shared with the world.

Lizzo is only one hero who has demonstrated this contradiction. There have been many others.

But there is also nuance in each situation. 

When does someone go from a hero to a monster?

Sexual harassment is a common theme on this blog. But, a recent case has had me thinking about the real extent of hostile environment sexual harassment. In the case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that playing music containing sexually derogatory and violent content in the workplace can generate a hostile environment, violating Title VII.

If you work in a music-oriented business (or even if you don’t- heck, MOST businesses or their employees play music at least sometimes!), this might be of interest to you.

It’s the beginning of Pride Month and with the myriad attacks on LGBTQ+ rights happening right now, it’s natural to wonder what you can do to help. This time last year there was a big push around abortion rights. Before that, it was Black Lives Matter. Issues go in cycles. None of these have gone away simply because they aren’t “currently trending” or “viral.”

I often have people in the industry reaching out, asking what they or their company can do to help on these issues. I outlined that in depth in two pieces: one for individual musicians and another for companies. 

But, I want to spend a little more time on making decisions about specifically where you want to act or intervene. Let’s look at a few steps to figure out where you want to go.

Since musicians are customers of music gear manufacturers and those in music retail, and many of those folks are also their employees, it’s important for companies to understand the dynamics and experiences of musical moms, potential moms, and families. Plus, most who start their own companies in the industry are musicians, as well and, arguably, there are comparatively fewer mom music gear industry business owners than employees or performers.

Anticipatory armor is a daily part of life for musicians from marginalized groups, especially in music retail environments. As a retailer, the last thing you want is someone to have a sense of dread at the idea of entering your store. Understanding this experience and doing what you can to prevent it is crucial in the competitive retail environment.

If we know this AI pulls from a piece of writing, artwork, or music, the next question often comes to ownership. But if thousands or millions of pieces are being scoured to generate a particular piece, whose is it? Is it the artists whose work is the source material? Is it the person who programmed it? Is it the AI generator? What if the source is public domain? How do we know that someone created a piece of work themselves or generated it through AI? These are concerns both legally and ethically. 

…companies mean well, they are aware of tokenism, and they want to avoid it. But, especially when you have a homogenous staff of mostly cis white men, many folks are so nervous about it, that it can become somewhat paralyzing and they don’t know what to do.

So, what can you do when hiring “the first” or first few folks of new identity for your company (much of this would also be applicable for booking shows or festivals, adding new folks to your artist roster, and more)? Here are some steps to take.

The gear panopticon is when you feel surveilled while trying out music gear.

If you are, for example, A femme person and you've ever gone to try something out in a guitar shop, you probably experienced this. It's like that sort of feeling that you're constantly under watch— either real or imagined.

However, for folks in the music gear industry who do claim to support gender equity in music and music gear, supporting abortion access and speaking up about it is your responsibility if you want to be in line with your stated values. It affects you, your employees, your customers, and the industry as a whole.

I appreciate companies’ attention to this, but the main problem that they bump up against is when they are seen as doing a poor job of this throughout the year, and then they want to throw confetti one day or one month per year. For many people, it feels hollow.

What's harder to learn-- how to talk to people, or the difference between a single-coil and a humbucker?

When hiring, employers often put so much emphasis on technical understanding that they often forget the importance of actually being able to make a positive connection with their customers and other employees.

I know a lot of companies have these positive intentions. But pushing off the work can come back to bite them and the longer they wait to make change, the harder it becomes because the systems that led to the change are all the more ingrained.

If you’ve met me, I think you’ve probably come to the realization that I try to talk to people in a way that is kind and engaging. That is something I strive for in work situations and beyond.

But, I want to be crystal clear that I am not allowing folks to “get away with” things in my trainings. I am clear on what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t. But I don’t think that in my particular role coming in with guns blazing is a helpful approach either.

Brick and mortar stores are facing a lot of competition, much of which is from the internet. What sets music retailers up for success is building up their strengths— and one major strength is in the community they can build around the store itself.

An additional, and important, benefit of creating community is that it can create opportunities to bring folks into the store who might otherwise be turned off or feel excluded or too intimidated to go inside.

So, in order to drive there in what might be the worst traffic of the day, a parent customer might be there for about 15 minutes or so, depending on the size of your city. If it’s a larger store with longer hours, a parent might have an hour after bedtime to pop over there… but let’s be real, they are probably too exhausted to do so.

If you are a person in the world, or more specifically, a business owner who is running a company, or an employee working with others IN a company (in music or beyond!), understanding when jokes are appropriate or inappropriate can be important both in terms of their ability to bring people in— but as you may have predicted— in their ability to exclude others… or even in their ability to create of a hostile work environment, which could increase turnover, get folks fired, or even lead to legal or repetitional challenges.

Pronouns are words that you use to refer to someone when you are not using their name. And for trans and non-binary folks, it’s also a way of respecting their humanity.

However, not everyone has trans or non-binary people in their lives (which is a whole other conversation), so when they first start using pronouns, it might require a little mental effort and practice— and you will likely make a few mistakes along the way. But it is definitely worth it to show that you care.

A lot of people think that gender neutral language is an overreaction or “PC.” In reality, research shows that our language determines the way we think. So, for example, when we use a term like, “guys” to refer to a group of people, in our brains, it essentially erases the existence and importance of anyone else in the group. You wouldn’t want to do that, would you?

So many of the conversations we have around making change and shifting culture happens after the fact. We talk about education and training— which is a lot of the work that I do and love! But, when we are talking about workplace trainings, a lot of the work is about undoing things we’ve already learned from our parents, from our schools, from the media, and from the culture at large.