The examples, literally, are raining down. At the time of starting this look back, we had a few names in mind, some recent cases that had caused more or less of a stir. But we had to face the facts once again, and the conclusion was clear: no more than the others, the music industry is not safe for women. All the boxes are checked: predominantly male environment, well-established patriarchal system, old-fashioned patterns of domination, sexualization and invisibilization of women, all under cover of the always very convenient “schoolboy humor”.
Faced with accusations, even convictions, there are those who say and those who do.
On the front line, the artists
In a press release published on his Facebook account on June 6, 2021, Martin Gugger announced his departure from the French pop group Salut c'est Cool, following accusations of rape against James Darle, another member of the group. While James Darle was ousted from Hi it's Cool, we can find this decision a little radical. Martin agreed to talk to us about it. “I consider that the group failed to take the initiative to help the victim and did not place its priorities in the right place. The message to support her and disassociate herself from James came after too many wanderings, too many changes of heart, and too many hesitations. I felt like I couldn't understand them anymore. I imagined myself going back on stage with them and feeling dirty, out of step with my values and beliefs. I told them that if they weren't able to take a frank position for the victim, I should dissociate myself from them. »
The key for him, a lot of sadness. “I didn't make the decision to leave Salut c'est Cool without thinking or lightly: I made it because I no longer had a choice. It's still painful today for me to tell myself that I won't be able to do such beautiful concerts with people that I could call my friends in the past. I had terrible anxieties and nightmares before I really made the decision to leave the band. Still uncertain about his future, Martin is also uncertain about wrestling itself. “It's obvious that the music world is trying to be more egalitarian, more benevolent, but we're not there yet. There are plenty of rotten apples in the music tree that continue to cling to the branches and look ripe and delicious from a certain angle. Let's stay vigilant because the most feminist/queer friendly people in gestures are not necessarily so in actions. »
More ambiguous situation within the Deaf Rock Records label. Following a testimony collected by Music Too, Julien Hohl, director of the label, was accused of "inappropriate or even violent behavior, of a sexual nature, which would have occurred between 2015 and 2019: sexist remarks, repeated flirting, kisses described as forced, sexual relations where consent is lacking” (source: Mediapart). Julien Hohl left office two days after the article was published. On the other hand, he still owns a third of the shares of the Constellation holding company, which itself owns Pegase, which itself controls several labels including Deaf Rock. A “penalty” not too severe, finally. We contacted the current management of Deaf Rock Records in order to have their reaction on the subject, without success. After the departure of Julien Hohl, a certain number of artists announced their intention to break their contract. Among them, the French Last Train (who mention in their press release a “quest for ethical justice”), Structures, Dirty Deep or the American Crocodiles. We exchanged, a lot, a long time, with "old" of Deaf Rock. In everyone, the same disgust, the same desire to talk, and in everyone equally, the same answer: we can't. The legal conditions for their departure, which have not yet been completely determined, require caution.
But the most powerful gesture is undoubtedly that of Lola Le Lann. On October 6, 2020, the singer and actress published a message on her Instagram account where she announced that she was simply giving up, with the support of her team, on the release of her first album. Reason given: among its authors, one is accused of sexual assault. She claims to have made this decision because, she says, "how to defend the words of someone who goes so far against our values". And she uses a chilling image: “with the lyrics of such a person it would be a bit like slipping a snake down your throat trying to sing in tune”.
Lola Le Lann never names him, but the author in question is Yohann Malory, lyricist, among others, for Louane, Johnny Hallyday, Jenifer, Chimène Badi, Matt Pokora or even Miossec. An investigation was opened against him on November 1, 2020, following 4 complaints and he was indicted for rape and sexual assault on March 11, 2021 and placed under judicial supervision. What pain must an artist take when renouncing to publish an album, moreover the first, undoubtedly loaded with emotions and the fruit of months or even years of work and hopes. But Lola Le Lann utters an essential word: “values”. Artists have often been criticized for not behaving irreproachably, for not being the role models expected, especially vis-à-vis their youngest fans. So when they commit, affirm their principles and stick to them by assuming the consequences, let's underline it. Let's support them.
Putting your actions in harmony with your deep convictions is complicated for each of us, so those who succeed in doing so: it's a big YES. Obviously, we wanted to talk to Lola about her decision and the circumstances that led her to make it. Unfortunately, she is in a complicated legal situation and therefore did not wish to speak for the moment.
Labels and turners, a team spirit with variable geometry
Since we are going to talk about companies, let's start with a reminder: under the terms of article L4121-1 of the Labor Code, the employer is required to take all the necessary measures to ensure safety and protect physical and mental health. workers. There. Let's go on. The Because Music label, which manages the careers of Charlotte Gainsbourg, London Grammar and Christine and the Queens, among others, had an eventful year in 2021.
While internal discussions between a number of employees had already begun, accusations of sexual violence against the rapper Retro X led them to ask the President of Because Music and Because Editions, Emmanuel de Buretel to stop representing this artist. heard and accepted quickly. But the case does not stop there, the tap is on and tongues are loosened. The employees make a damning observation: a very large number of them report inappropriate behavior, "slippages" within the company. In total, some forty testimonies are this time transmitted to Emmanuel de Buretel in the form of an internal investigation carried out by the lawyer Maître Carole Pascarel, relating in particular "a sexualized atmosphere in the companies Because Music and Because Editions, marked by unacceptable words and ranging from humiliation and sexism to racism and homophobia". All this will lead to the dismissal of the Director General, to a warning and the rewriting of the internal regulations "including clauses against sexist and sexual violence".
These reactions and this listening from a label run by men are obviously welcome. Women's voices have been heard and considered twice, which is encouraging and can, we hope, show the way, in the case of a large label, with recognized and profitable artists in its catalog, and which has taken strong and unambiguous measures to combat violence against women. However, we will never know what would have happened if the employees of Because had not gone to the coal themselves, taking their free time to achieve what should simply be normality.
The metal scene has also been agitated by several cases in recent years, including the most publicized, and central subject of a Mediapart investigation published on May 22, 2021, concerns the turner Rage Tour and led to the dismissal of an employee accused of sexual assault. It highlights an increasingly frequent reaction: the condemnation of the violence committed BUT the refusal of the amalgam between their author and the company where he works. While, for example, the group Krav Boca withdrew from the poster of the Xtreme Fest because groups managed by Rage Tour were programmed there, while MSS FRNCE refused concert dates, considering that sharing the poster with certain groups/labels/turners amounted to "validating certain behaviors that cannot be ignored" and even spoke, in an interview with Tsugi on June 22, 2021, of "passive complicity", the members of Tagada Jones (including one of the members is co-founder of Rage Tour), they draped themselves in their dignity, defending themselves from being aggressors and refusing to carry the "burden for others". We also remember the press release from Hellfest in 2019 complaining about the image that an accusation of rape during the festival could project of the event and the environment in general (and replacing the word "rape" by "sexual assault ").
Certainly. The behavior of a person is not that of his band, his label, his turner, and obviously not of his entire musical genre. Can we therefore avoid any questioning? Without wondering how the author of the violence could have committed them, if we did not directly or indirectly contribute to the environment not being safe? By harping on “it's him, it's not us”, which still very much resembles that good old “not all men”? A little easy.
Jean-Michel Journet, agent and co-founder of Music Too, told us his feelings: “Everything that touches on intimacy and the culture of French rape that Valérie Rey-Robert talks about, we close our eyes. It's a separate subject in the sense that it's 98% male violence, but more than 60% are men in this industry, so you have to look yourself in the face and say to yourself what is- what I did wrong, in my career, in my postures. We have all at one time been a witness, accomplice or tout, without necessarily wanting it, and to speak or not to speak forces us to revisit everything we have done, everything we have said, everything why we do not know. is not beaten, even what we have done, we, professionally or personally, where consent did not exist. It requires a lot of deconstruction, humility, and unfortunately humility is not the strong point of men I think. People who say "yes, but not me" completely hide their face. Whether in words or actions, everyone participates a little or a lot in the culture of rape and the insecurity of women in our society and in our music industry. »
