The contemporary #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have forced us to confront the pervasiveness of sexism and sexual misconduct in popular music and entertainment industry spaces. Since 2017, a growing number of incidents have been disclosed by music industry professionals via traditional and social media, detailing the unique dangers and precarity of these spaces. As The Daily Beasts’ Amy Zimmerman articulates, “The recurring message is that, for women, the music industry is a Banksy-designed Choose Your Own Adventure book, with each career path containing its own lady-specific land mines.” 

At the same time, broader issues of safety in music spaces have reignited conversations about planning and enforcement at music events, particularly around hierarchies of power, systems of accountability and community care. From violent encounters in intimate recording studios to the prevalence of sexual assault against women at music festivals around the world and the devastation experienced by attendees at the 2021 Astroworld Music Festival, issues of danger and misconduct are endemic to the histories and structures of popular music industries.   

This panel brings together individuals whose work centers issues of safety within the popular music industries to share their efforts working on the ground as organizational and collective leaders, artists and activists to transform our experiences in and of music and music spaces. Join us for an urgent conversation about why the structures of popular music industries are particularly vulnerable to danger and misconduct, and how we can collectively work toward creating and ensuring safer spaces.

For more information or to join via Zoom: https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/events/center-media-risk-roundtable-constructing-safer-spaces-popular-music