lol heres a thread ab the music industry n its constant mislabeling of black artists

n i made sure 2 run this thru a word processor so it makes more sense 2 ppl sorry for being shitty at typing. also i apologize if somthn doesnt make sense im not the best at explaining if u hav questions i can try 2 explain tho :]

MISLABELING + WHY ITS HARMFUL
to start, lets talk about why mislabeling is harmful. i'm sure you know what mislabeling is, but in case you dont, it is when something is labeled improperly.

in the case of music, this would mean an album, song, or artist being labeled as the wrong genre. for example, an experimental artist being labeled as indie or a pop punk album being categorized as purely pop.

it may not sound like that big of a deal, but considering the effects it has in terms of awards and recognition (which mean quite a bit in the music industry) the relevance becomes a lot clearer.

you see, mislabeling reduces the artist to something that they are not, and leaves them unable to be recognized or nominated for awards in another genre.

for example, a pop group that is mislabeled as dance cant be recognized for their pop music. instead, they would be nominated for and treated as a dance group, which deprives them of the opportunities that come with being properly labeled.

this mislabelling happens quite often with black artists, those with more experimental styles will be sorted into either the rap or rnb genre for awards such as the grammy’s.

even recently, in the 2020 grammy’s, this happened with tyler, the creators grammy nomination for igor. although the album was far more experimental in style, it was labeled as rap.

and while it is great that he received recognition for his album, the mislabeling strips him and so many other black artists of their ability to change and experiment with genres, something white artists do not have to deal with.

its essentially a back handed compliment, bc while the artists ARE receiving some form of recognition, they are being recognized for what the industry WANTS them to be and not what they ACTUALLY ARE. black artists, such as tyler, who are-

actively morphing genres are still categorized as rnb, meanwhile white artists who do the same are given credit, recognized, and praised for their experimentation.

but really, this is nothing new. tyler isnt the first black artist to have been miscategorized and not acknowledged for their experimentation. history is strewn with instances of artists being ignored for their efforts & contributions to new-

genres that are later popularized by the white mainstream. if theyre lucky, they MIGHT be labeled an ‘early influence’ but never are they recognized for truly helping to create these new styles of music.

WHY MISLABELLING HAPPENS

put simply, black people are more profitable when they fit a certain standard, when they can fit into one simple genre, when they are packaged and presented to the public in a certain way.

typically, before you hear the artists, you see them, and if an artist doesnt INTENTIONALLY make a distinction beforehand they leave assumptions to be made by those who see nothing but their melanin first.

SOOO MANY black artists find themselves regulated to “urban” genres such as rnb and rap due to this.

unconscious assumptions made by consumers and the conscious marketing choices made by those who profit off of black musicians have lead to the almost automatic assumption that black artists always belong to one of the more “urban genres.”

mislabeling simply furthers this narrative which, once again, silences and keeps black artists from being able to truly experiment.

TL;DR
black artists are continually being mislabeled and miscatagorized in order to be more easily marketable, something white artists dont have to face. this leads to them being continually discredited and not receiving the recognition they-

deserve for their work. black artists who experiment with genres deserve to have their voices heard and be recognized for what they ARE, and not what they are “supposed” to be.