MBW can today (April 4) reveal the pay gap between women and their male colleagues who work at all three major labels in the UK.
Universal, Sony and Warner‘s UK companies have published figures which display the percentage difference between average hourly earnings for male and female employees.
This data is publicly available because, since 2017, companies in the UK with more than 250 employees have been required by law to reveal their gender pay gap stats by April 5.
These figures also show the gender split between males and females across all levels of the businesses, as well as the difference in bonuses paid out to both genders.
The main headline: the average gender pay gap across all three companies is 29.6% – with 29.1% at Universal, 20.9% at Sony and 38.7% at Warner.
The headline figures for the previous year (as at April 2017) saw the average gender pay gap across all three companies at 33.8% – with 29.8% at Universal, 22.7% at Sony and 49% at Warner.
Here, we break down the gender pay gap at each major music company.
All of these figures are based on statistics collected by the UK Government as at April 5, 2018 and published today (April 4).
Universal
In the top-earning quartile of Universal Music UK‘s business, 73% of employees are male and 27% are female.
The average hourly rate of pay across the whole business is 29.1% lower for females vs. males.
(Taken as a median %, this figure falls to 20.9%.)
When it comes to bonuses, female executives are paid 24.4% less on average than their male counterparts.
Bonus pay is given to 81% of males and 80% of females.
In the ‘upper middle quartile’ of Universal Music UK (ie. the second tier of executive pay), 59% of employees are male and 41% are female.
In the ‘lower-middle’ quartile (ie. the third tier) there are 54% male employees and 46% female employees, while in the bottom quartile (ie. the lowest-paid), those stats stand at 46% male and 54% female.
Universal says that 42% of its total UK workforce is female.
Sony
In the top-earning quartile of Sony Music UK‘s business, 60.2% of employees are male and 39.8% are female.
The average hourly rate of pay across the whole business is 20.9% lower for females vs. males.
(Taken as a median %, this figure falls to 1.3%.)
When it comes to bonuses, female executives are paid 50.1% less on average than their male counterparts.
Bonus pay is given to 76.3% of males and 71.5% of females.
In the ‘upper middle quartile’ of Sony Music UK (ie. the second tier of executive pay), 50% of employees are male and 50% are female.
In the ‘lower-middle’ quartile (ie. the third tier) there are 53.4% male employees and 46.6% female employees, while in the bottom quartile (ie. the lowest-paid), those stats stand at 53.4% male and 46.6% female.
Sony says that 45.9% of its total UK workforce is female.
Warner
In the top-earning quartile of Warner Music UK‘s business, 69.8% of employees are male and 30.2% are female.
The average hourly rate of pay across the whole business is 38.7% lower for females vs. males.
(Taken as a median %, this figure falls to 23.1%.)
When it comes to bonuses, female executives are paid 67.5% less on average than their male counterparts.
Bonus pay is given to 86.5% of males and 81.7% of females.
In the ‘upper middle quartile’ of Warner Music UK (ie. the second tier of executive pay), 60.5% of employees are male and 39.5% are female.
In the ‘lower-middle’ quartile (ie. the third tier) there are 47.7% male employees and 52.3% female employees, while in the bottom quartile (ie. the lowest-paid), those stats stand at 46.5% male and 53.5% female.
