Thinly veiled: discrimination within indie

Last week, the New York Times released a report that detailed how Ryan Adams allegedly used his power within the music industry to demand sexual favors and emotionally abuse over seven women, including one minor. Adams is the perfect example of “indie innocence”: the bad-boy rocker who can disappear behind the shadow of industry giants and avoid accusations of abuse. Indie music has a widespread issue of misogyny and racism, thinly veiled by so-called deep lyrics and an acoustic guitar.

Indie music’s portrayal of women begins to reveal some of the genre’s underlying issues with sexism. A significant portion of the genre plays into the same cliched trope of a broken, beautiful girl that somehow saves the frontman from himself and another broken heart. Indie music has successfully painted a one dimensional female heroine whose only purpose is to save the lead singer. It fails to recognize women as equally complex as their male counterparts. News flash: a woman’s purpose is to not save a man. It’s time to burn the narrative that it is a woman’s responsibility to rescue an adult from himself.

Additionally, the underrepresentation of women in indie music and music as a whole is dramatically displayed through the Adams controversy. We’ve seen it in the past two years in Hollywood— a woman wants to be successful, a powerful man offers to mentor her, but then uses this power to coerce her into sexual acts. The woman remains powerless and, chances are, never has her break. So why is it that the indie scene has remained relatively unscathed from the #MeToo movement? How has Adams been able to keep this secret for years without repercussions until now?  

Adams has had a reputation as a volatile womanizer for many years. However, he was able to continuously portray himself as an advocate for young women within the industry, and this same attention also empowered him to abuse his power. Adams was able to sidestep possible backlash by using the internet to his advantage to attack critics and silence accusers, continuing to work with a number of well-known artists to bolster himself as a champion for women in music.

Adams begins to outline the issues found within indie rock. Part of indie music’s relative “innocence” can be attributed to its obscurity, but perhaps more attention should be paid to how white the genre is. Artists like Tyga and R. Kelly have been scrutinized for years over their misconduct, and for good reason. They’re both predatory monsters but, in comparison with Adams, they have received much more attention and criticism.

Moreover, Adams serves as an example as to how racism can permeate even the most “progressive” genres. Artists like Tyga and Kelly act as the media’s perfect assailants because they are hip-hop and R&B  artists. Adams performs as the kind, sensitive indie songster while black artists are called out more frequently and swiftly, underpinning a present but undiscussed form of privilege in indie rock.

It is vital that women are not only artists, but also work behind the scenes. Women are not common names in the boardroom, on festival lineups, or as household names within the music industry. Unfortunately this is due to powerful men using their power to tear women down instead of build them up. The fewer women that are visible within the industry, the easier it is to target them. Women begin to be seen as smaller, and suddenly we become prey rather than a part of the conversation.  The more women we have in involved in the music industry, the less sexualized and obscure the idea of women within the industry will become. We need to have more women to hold men accountable and show that we have a lasting and important role in music. We need to uphold the women who come out against these men, believe them, and refuse to make excuses for the offenders.

Look at yourself and ask how many stories you have to hear before you try to enact change. Consider how you are playing an active, or even a passive, role within this system. At what point do you call abusers out? Once you’re the victim?

I’m tired of this narrative. Enough is enough.

Article by Makaila Heifner