Sexual Harassment: Music Industry Stories
from the Trenches
It's hard to believe, but as little as 15 years
ago many music industry companies had no policy on sexual harassment. We're not whining, but here's some of the stuff that's
gone on over the years.
In the early 80's I worked with a young, all-male metal band. We were offered
a spot on the bill for a live show that would give them a big push. The DJ in charge of the show, who had a creepy vibe that
made a lot of people afraid of him, said the spot was ours if I went on vacation with him to his country of origin. He was
already playing one of their songs on his show and had them in studio often, so a lot was at stake.
The band and I had a very open dialogue, and I told him the conditions
of the offer.
Their reaction was great: two of them offered to go beat the guy up (which
I fortunately talked them out of), and the other three assisted with a plot to do the gig, send me on vacation with the guy
and have some of our team there without the DJ knowing it, then get me out before anything happened. The station changed formats
so none of it ever happened, but I was proud of their reaction. Fortunately, the DJ left the business a long time ago.--Anonymous
Female Manager
