Watch: An analysis of songwriting in 2021 with Blokur and The Ivors Academy

In celebration of the 2021 Songwriters' Review launch, on Thursday 3rd of November, Blokur and The Ivors Academy held a virtual event to discuss key findings from the report.

Watch a recording of the event or read on to see some of the highlights!

The event was hosted by Phil Barry (founder of Blokur), who kicked off the session with an overview of the report and the methodology used to identify the top songwriters. He was later joined by Graham Davies (CEO of The Ivors Academy) and Michelle Lewis (songwriter and CEO of Songwriters of North America), who shared their thoughts and elaborated on factors that could have influenced the data, such as:

  • The current state of songwriting as a profession 

  • Female representation in songwriting 

  • The economy of songwriting 

  • Top songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo, Dr Luke, Bob Gaudio etc.) 

  • Songwriting demographics and diversity

Undoubtedly the most contentious subject discussed was that for the second year in a row, only 15% of the songwriters in the top 100 were women. However, despite the attention-grabbing headline, neither Davies or Lewis were shocked by the figure.

women in music stat

Their lack of surprise may have come from both being aware of the historic male domination of the music industry which doesn’t make it easy for women who are looking to find their way in and often pushes women out of their share of a song. Elaborating on the issue, Michelle Lewis stated: 

"If we look even deeper into who is producing and creating these tracks, there would be no women, so that's the place to really focus on. If the women were co-writing with women to get the whole song done more often…you'd have more opportunity."

- Michelle Lewis, songwriter and CEO of SONA

Davies and Lewis both touched on the ‘drop-off’ that occurs in the early stages of a female songwriter's career, whether that’s due to hostile working environments or a struggle to be heard in a male-oriented industry. Addressing that issue specifically, Graham remarked:

"All of The Ivors Academy's Rising Star nominees this year were women…Then you look at the winners of the more established categories and it's dropped off"

- Graham Davies, CEO of The Ivors Academy

Backing up those sentiments, Michelle Lewis noted: 

"My brother-in-law [is] a professor at [the] University of South California…which is the music school and...his classes are 50/50 male, [and] female...So what happens after they graduate? Who gets hired, and who is hiring?...I think it's so clear there's a space between school and work that something's failing, something's not happening...There's a drop-off and we need to address it"

- Michelle Lewis, Songwriter and CEO of SONA

Discussing the top songwriters, Lewis expressed shock at how Bob Gaudio made the top 20. The result warranted the surprise because the 80-year-old songwriter hasn't written anything commercial in years. Phil Barry explained that Gaudio wrote Beggin’ which was covered by Måneskin who won the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, and after their Eurovision appearance, the Italian Rock band went viral on TikTok, giving the original songwriter a boost up the chart. TikTok has played a similar role for other songwriters like Masked Wolf too as mentioned in the report, thanks to its ability to quickly pick up on users’ scrolling habits and interests and to make a video viral no matter the number of followers a user has. 

the four seasons

Gaudio (at left) with The Four Seasons in 1966

From the discussion, the consensus between all speakers was that the Songwriters' Review could play a key role in keeping a record of the statistics. And hopefully, as the report continues to generate meaningful discussions on the issue, actions will be taken to change things. Graham Davies mentioned the importance of keeping records of songwriting data, stating:

"...we're delighted to partner with Blokur on this report. We've actually been trying to get a songwriter chart off the ground for a couple of years... it's really important we do see the music industry's global perspective because all songwriters are interacting in a global market…So I think for me anything that highlights the work of songwriters [and] how that's changing the trends is a worthwhile activity."

- Graham Davies, CEO of The Ivors Academy

A very special thanks to Graham Davies and Michelle Lewis for sharing their valued insights and to everyone who attended the event. 

To learn more about the data behind the topics mentioned in this article, download your free copy of the 2021 Songwriters' Review HERE. You can also re-watch the event HERE