Open Letter

I have watched the worldwide unfolding of events since the death of George Floyd with disappointment, sadness, heartbreak and recognition through to hope and excitement. Finally, the UK seems to be waking up to its own institutional racism and unconscious bias. As a white woman who grew up in London’s Black music scene, I carved out a career for myself in the music I loved first as a club promoter working primarily with Trevor Nelson, then as a black music marketing specialist where I wound up in DEF JAM UK as GM. Then as an artist manager and along the way I took over running ILUVLIVE from founder Jade Richardson. 

I realized my privilege being white early on when my black friends were unable to hail cabs or get in to West End Clubs and as a promoter, even I found it hard to get venues because we were playing Black Music. I remember owners blatantly asking how Black our clientele was. Of course, we would always say it was mixed but if a club owner walked into a club and it was 50% Black, they would always think it was 90% Black. We had to work hard to make sure we got white people in our club nights to keep the club owners happy and we were on occasion, kicked out of venues for our nights being to Black.  

I remember distinctly when Usher went to number 1 in the UK as this felt like a watershed moment in terms of black music being mainstream and it allowed me to go to Emporium, an upmarket West End club that had a predominantly white audience and negotiate a monthly Saturday night for an event to promote Trevor Nelson’s new MTV Show, ‘The Lick’. Anyone who was into Black Music at that time will remember the frenzy that the ‘The Lick Parties’ went on to create not just in the UK but right across Europe. However, as black music became mainstream, I saw black music specialist pluggers and PRs being dropped as record labels didn’t need black music specialists anymore. Furthermore, violence was erupting in the garage music scene and spilling over into RnB and Hip Hop nights and sadly what was to be the last ever Lick Party was shut down due by the Police due to intelligence that something was going to happen between rival gangs. Raves were getting shut down all the time by then and really damaging the Black Music scene. Yes, violence was happening but it always felt that the Police reaction was tougher when Black people were involved. This was bourn out again when we were involved in launching the GRM Rated Awards in 2015 with GRM Daily. We were brought in to event manage and we literally tried every venue of a suitable size in London. Most wouldn’t even entertain it and those that tried, said no when the 696 was submitted and the Police told them it was high risk. The 696 form was a risk-assessment document created by London’s Metropolitan police: It required details including a description of the style of music that would be played, the target audience and their ethnicity. For the Rated Awards it also required us to list invitees. We had already taken the initiative to avoid inviting people we knew were black listed by the Police (and why is it called a Black list?!) and the whole idea behind the awards was to unite and elevate the Grime community, who at that point were completely overlooked by mainstream culture. In the end we found a building that had previously been a theatre in Islington. It was a private building and so didn’t have to submit a 696 for events and we took the decision with only 7 days to the awards, to go ahead. It was without doubt one of the most stressful experiences of my life but also one of the proudest. We pulled it off without incidence and I knew, because of this, it would be easier next time round.

I got involved in ILUVLIVE soon after the Lick Parties came to an end as I felt I wanted to do something that supported new UK talent. ILUVLIVE had already received Arts Council Funding and with encouragement from our relationship manager at the Arts Council, Victor Redwood-Sawyerr (and yes, he is now the iluvlive MD), I took over funding applications. This was like learning a whole new language. I remember once having to google what the question even meant! I would then be invited to round table discussions about how the Arts Council could encourage diversity and more “BAME” applicants and I had to point out that I was white and now pretty middle class and even I found the language obtuse and daunting.  With Victors encouragement, I applied for NPO funding which we received and we were finally able to employ people rather than relying on a rotation of volunteers and advocates (thank you Remel London, Twin B, Ras Kwame, Eunice Obinagha, Sian Anderson, Sheila Masembe, Janelle Fraser, Lauren Louise, Daryl  Dyer, John Hendrickse, all the other amazing people who helped keep it afloat and of course Jade Richardson for her continuing input and support. A shout out to Urban Development who helped fund us at times too and Natalie Wade, who did the first funding bids with Jade. Alongside this, we were always looking for ways to raise commercial revenue and put together brochures to this end. I’m sad to say we would try to find pictures where the audience looked more mixed than it was (our audience has never been more then 30% white) because we knew sponsors wouldn’t be interested in an exclusively Black audience. We also changed the word Urban to Homegrown as a way to describe the night, so sponsors wouldn’t be put off. And it wasn’t just sponsors, record labels often didn’t want to put acts on our events because we were deemed too Black. At one point many labels didn’t even want to position Black acts as ‘too Black’!  

Now, I can finally say I am proud to represent a Black Music brand and not have to wrap it up as anything other or dilute it or cower to some peoples ill-conceived notions of what black events, music and culture is.

I can also proudly say we have always sought out and employed Black people as I never wanted to be one of those black music companies where you walk in and everyone’s white. I witnessed this over and over and it galled me A LOT!  Luckily the majority of people who applied for jobs at iluvlive were black (usually 80%) and whilst our GM, John Hendrickse slipped through the net, the vast majority of people we have employed over the years have been Black.  The note I want to make though is that when I finally decided I needed to step away from the day to day running of the company and we advertised for an MD, this statistic flipped and we only had around 20% none white applicants. This shocked me as we advertised the role in all the places we always did. It made me realize that it wasn’t only about providing opportunities but developing pathways to senior positions. We didn’t end up employing anyone from the first round of applicants but called up a load of people and head hunted until we found the right Black person. My friends would laugh at me when I said I really wanted to find a Black person for the role but I always felt, if not me, who else?! This is a drum I have been banging for a long time and it’s really exciting to see so many others now banging the same drum. I hope we can continue to make enough noise to make the changes that are long overdue.

One last note, I look back at the institutional racism I have had to navigate working in Black Music and feel really sad at how normalized it was and how resigned we became to finding ways round it. Then I think, and I’m White. Imagine what it would have been like if I was Black!? 

- Rachael Bee (CEO ILUVLIVE)

As a 48-year-old British Black man born in the UK to Sierra Leonian parents, I’ve had to navigate my personal and professional development through systemic racism from my first recollection at the age of 6 to up to this day. My story is not unique and is one that has been told in various ways over the last week.   My personal experiences range from overcoming barriers of societal inferiority to White people, experiencing low expectations of academic achievement from the education system, the self-hatred among African and Caribbean communities expressed right through to getting routinely stopped by police or being profiled in shops. It didn’t stop there.  My professional experience is one that includes being told your album cover is too Afrocentric to be sellable and, as an act with a Black lead vocalist in Hil St Soul, being told that there’s no room for your single on Radio 1 as “they’re already playing Beverley Knight”.  I’m sure you’ve read and heard people raise similar instances recently. 

I’ve witnessed systemic racism at play at the highest levels of the music industry, with A&R meetings displaying clear examples of colourism; selecting mixed race or lighter-skinned Black artists or marketing departments going for lighter people in videos. It has been so dominant that I’ve seen some of the best of us, both Black and White, compromise their ethics just to put food on the table, with management and production companies strategically signing white, mixed or lighter-skinned Black artists to stand a better chance of receiving major label investment, media coverage and being playlisted at radio. And then there’s the other side of the industry; the workforce and lack of opportunities for Black people to progress to senior levels. During my time working as a Music Relationship Manager at Arts Council England, I supported the launch of the UK Music Industry Equalities and Diversity Charter, led by UK Music in 2012. This charter certainly affected some change but mainly at entrance level and there’s much more work to do to eradicate the barrier, particularly at senior level. 

This has been going on years before my time, in the same way that people have been championing to remove statues of slavers for decades and that is why I find myself in this crucial time of social awareness feeling more exhaustion and scepticism than rage and anger. This moment feels distinctly different though. There’s a mixture of voices out there now, highlighting what White privilege is and a growing number of White people and institutions acknowledging systemic racism and learning that saying the words “I’m/we’re not racist” deflects from the fact that they are benefitting from a system that is built to their advantage. On the subject of White privilege, a wise friend showed me that the term itself is misleading; It’s not White privilege. It’s the norm. The point is it’s Black deprivilege. The biggest change that I’ve seen so far is that people can never again say that they didn’t know. So, now we know, what is the industry going to do?

All my life I’ve had the fortune of only working with colleagues and companies that get it. This has included proactive teams affecting change within institutions that have been part of the problem. So it’s not a coincidence that I find myself with iluvlive; a company that has cultural diversity in its DNA, not as a box-ticking exercise but interwoven in all of its individual’s personal lives. I would not be there if I did not believe this and if I didn’t see this.  We are an example of what the industry should reflect, from entry level all the way to Board and management. That said, we are not perfect and there may still be difficult conversations we need to have internally. It evolves. But The fact that we have a White CEO and a Black MD, both with strong credentials and experience and a sense of shared direction enables us to really push many conversations to areas other companies can’t. 

We are here, ready to take part in the wider conversation of breaking down brick walls and glass ceilings and ensuring our industry reflects all of us in our entirety.

- Victor Redwood- Sawyerr (MD ILUVLIVE)