The Recording Academy recently announced plans for a task force to combat inequality in the music industry, and new details about its leadership have just emerged.
The task force will be spearheaded by Tina Tchen, a lawyer whose resumé includes co-founding the Time's Up legal defence fund and serving as Michelle Obama's chief of staff.
In a statement, Tchen described the task force as "an important initial step by the Recording Academy to demonstrate its commitment to tackling these challenges in a comprehensive way."
As previously reported, the task force was created to assess "where we can do more to overcome the explicit barriers and unconscious biases that impede female advancement in the music community."
The decision came after this year's Grammy Awards drew criticism for awarding a dismal 17 percent of the trophies to women, and failing to let sole female Album of the Year nominee Lorde perform.
Making matters worse, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow responded to criticism by telling women in the music industry to "step up." He later clarified his comments, saying, "I regret that I wasn't as articulate as I should have been."
The task force will be spearheaded by Tina Tchen, a lawyer whose resumé includes co-founding the Time's Up legal defence fund and serving as Michelle Obama's chief of staff.
In a statement, Tchen described the task force as "an important initial step by the Recording Academy to demonstrate its commitment to tackling these challenges in a comprehensive way."
As previously reported, the task force was created to assess "where we can do more to overcome the explicit barriers and unconscious biases that impede female advancement in the music community."
The decision came after this year's Grammy Awards drew criticism for awarding a dismal 17 percent of the trophies to women, and failing to let sole female Album of the Year nominee Lorde perform.
Making matters worse, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow responded to criticism by telling women in the music industry to "step up." He later clarified his comments, saying, "I regret that I wasn't as articulate as I should have been."