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| Paul McKessar |
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| Scott Mclachlan |
Alison Mau, senior journalist and #metoonz editor at Stuff, wrote this important piece in the Sunday Star Times, it's a must read: "Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side". (warning: SA)
"Young music professionals and artists are demanding change in an industry they say is rife with sexual harassment and exploitation.
A months-long Stuff investigation has uncovered allegations by women and non-binary people of harassment by male artists, international acts and executives - and has prompted an extraordinary admission and apology from one of the industry’s best-known names..."
The two music managers highlighted for their behaviour in the article are Paul McKessar (CRS Management, who list Benee, Brooke Fraser, Mala as clients and he's also former head of Flying Nun Records) and Lorde's former manager Scott McLachlan, who made the admission and apology mentioned above.
"Maclachlan confirmed he lost his position as Senior Vice President at Warner Australasia and was banned from Warner Music’s Australian offices and gigs, after the company commissioned a sexual harassment investigation in 2018.
"A former employee at the Auckland-based management company he founded, Saiko Management, said Maclachlan also sexually harassed and emotionally manipulated her while she worked for him. Maclachlan has admitted her claims are true.
"Three years after his business relationship with Lorde ended in 2015, UK-born Maclachlan was plucked from Saiko Management to take the role of Senior Vice President of A&R at Warner Music Australasia. He retained a role at Saiko, but the Warner job - split between Sydney and Auckland - made headlines in the music press.
"Within five months, Maclachlan had been banned from the music giant’s Australian offices after an external investigation into a sexual harassment complaint.
"Maclachlan was demoted but stayed with the company as an A & R specialist in Auckland. Stuff understands privacy requirements meant few Warner New Zealand employees were told of the investigation, or its outcome."
On Sunday night Warner Music NZ
decided to fire Mclachlan.
"…. Plows claimed McKessar broke off the relationship after being questioned by his partner - but that he was “really upset” when Plows wanted to end the business relationship as a result.
“He said it would be really embarrassing and it would look bad for his career and no-one would know why we’d left.”
Mau wrote "McKessar declined to answer a number of questions put to him by Stuff, saying he “won’t be making any comment about my private life, or about a consensual relationship with a former partner.”
McKessar's co-owner of CRS, Cambell Smith, posted a
message on Twitter this morning, notable for two things - no mention of McKessar by name, and no use of the word 'sorry'.
via Stuff: "Campbell Smith, McKessar’s business partner at management company CRS, also posted a statement to Instagram on Monday, saying the company had not met standards “to provide a safe environment to our clients”.
Campbell Smith did not respond to multiple requests for comment. His post on Instagram said the company would “engage independent advisors to help us strengthen our company culture and refine policy and processes to ensure that we do always meet this (safety) standard”.
Mckessar posted an apology on his Instagram and returned a music award from 2020 for best manager (Benee) given out by the MMF (Music Managers Forum). No word if McLachlan will return his awards from MMF for best international manager from 2014 and 2015.
Several commenters on Instagram responding to McKessar's apology said 'this is the bare, performative mininimum." and another said "this is clearly you trying to save face - if you really cared you would take some accountablity for what you did rather than shift the blame to the [music] community."
Musician Villette
tweeted "U
ntil nz music managers lose more than the survivors that out them, there is no justice."
I'm totally in agreement with DJ Sirvere's sentiments:
ADDED 26 JAN - RNZ's Charlotte Rynan has writtten an excellent piece on this story, covering reactions from musicians and detailng her own experiences: 'The NZ music industry's #MeToo reckoning'.
quote: In an Instagram story, Tami Neilson wrote, “100% enraged. 0%
surprised. We’ll all be watching to see who remains silent and who
actually implements this change - because it shouldn’t be on the
shoulders of the people who have bravely spoken up.”
She followed it with an Instagram post that asked, “Is it just me or is the silence of our music community deafening today?”
Charlotte closes with "I love working in and alongside the music industry, and there are so
many great humans that do fantastic work and treat everyone with
respect. But some are not.
This behaviour has been happening for
years, not only in the music industry, and it needs to be brought to
attention, taken seriously and stopped.
Today I have been asking myself, how can we make change?
How
do we protect the amazing teenagers who attended Aotearoa Girls Rock
Camp last week? A camp full of 40 young women and non-binary people,
including my daughter, wanting to enter the music industry and eager to
impress.
How do I ensure that the industry is a safer, fairer and more transparent one than it was for those of my generation?
It should not be about educating women about how to avoid situations or behaviours. We need to educate the men.
Don't behave this way. Communicate clearly. Educate yourselves. Take action to change."
ADDED 27 JAN - Three days after the story broke, Campbell Smith released a 2nd statement, this time including an apology which was missing from his first statement, and saying Mckessar has been stood down indefinitely, and that he resigned. These arent the same - stood down means he was told to leave, and resigning means he chose to stand down. While it's good to see them do the right thing, why wasn't this their first response?
The statement has Smith saying 'Paul was and is my best friend and I will support him on this journey." So did Smith know what his best friend was up to in 2015? Or was the news story the first time he'd heard about it?
ADDED 28 JAN - Top singers release open letter after sexual harassment revelations.
The letter is signed by Anna Coddington, Anika Moa, Mel Parsons, Lorde, Tami Neilson, Hollie Smith and Bic Runga.
“If the artist’s job is to ... make moving music, yours must be to help
them professionally and personally, without crossing boundaries and
taking advantage of them,” the letter reads.
“Men in the music industry have been operating in a safety-in-numbers
scenario since forever. Young women, takatāpui, and other minorities
stepping fresh into the music industry do not have that safety.
“Yes it’s a hard knocks career choice. Everyone needs to be ready to
have their ego checked and confidence crushed, or the opposite – great
success, fans at their feet, whatever. Either way artists are up for
some head-messing times and need to learn to deal with that, hopefully
with good support around them. What nobody should have to deal with ever
– under any circumstance – is sexual harassment.
- Learn about boundaries and consent. If you can’t operate within those boundaries don’t operate.
- Do not accept the transgression of those boundaries from anyone you work with. If you see or hear something don’t let it slide.
- Check on people. If you suspect someone is being made to feel uncomfortable – ask them if they’re OK.
- Do
your best to be in the right, but always be ready to be wrong. If
someone tells you a behaviour is not acceptable to them, no matter how
small, don't get defensive – learn from it.
- Diversify your
workplace. If you need another person, actively seek candidates from
different backgrounds, with different perspectives.
- Speak to
professionals who can help you achieve these goals – there are plenty.
Do not rely on musicians and others in your own industry to teach you.
That is unpaid labour and surprise – we aren’t psychologists or HR pros
and probably don’t even have the tools you really need.
- Don’t make public statements without taking private action."
