How Sony Music is supporting global social justice today

Building the right solution

Our global parent company, Sony Corp., understood how important it was to set up the fund and gave us the significant financial support necessary to play a bigger role in building long-term change.

We needed to understand the landscape – Sony Music had supported organisations before, but not through a specific fund, so we thought through our goals and what parts of social justice we most wanted to address, because its scope is wide.

Structure is hugely important when it comes to establishing a fund like this. Our core team spent a lot of time establishing clear parameters around what we wanted to fund and guidelines and governance measures.  We considered where we felt we could have the greatest impact and use not only our funds effectively, but also our skills as an organisation.

We also listened to our employees. Staff input into our longlist of organisations which became our starting point for research. Our advisory board comprises twelve representatives from across the business – from label presidents to our diversity and inclusion employee group – who then meet quarterly to decide who we want to fund in each round. It was really important to us to have a range of voices and skills on the board, so we are two thirds black or people of colour, 50% female, and we have input from senior executives across the business, including A&R, marketing, sync, digital and communications.

We invite employees to nominate causes that are important to them (currently we do not accept unsolicited applications) and we then have a donation form for eligible organisations to complete. We have a funding round roughly each quarter and we offer advice at the application stage if helpful. Shortlisted applications go to an advisory board comprising representatives from across Sony Music UK, from label presidents to our diversity, equity and inclusion committee, HUE (Helping Unite Everyone).

The advisory board selects which organisations are then awarded funds for each round. We follow up with every organisation afterwards. Successful organisations are matched with an internal Sony Music ambassador to help build a meaningful partnership and we are looking into ways that employees can volunteer post-lockdown.

Navigating challenging conditions

Like any new entity, we are learning and developing as we go along. We look for charities doing great work in our key areas and work with them to identify how we can make the most impact. To help with that, we consult existing research and plan in the future to commission some of our own, to delve even deeper into social justice topics to help identify root causes.

We also examine how we work best with partners. This has been an unexpected year in the way we have all had to work through the pandemic. Charities have had to be innovative and flexible in a way that nobody expected, so we recognise that and help where we can.

For example, due to lockdown, our partner Young Urban Arts Foundation could not go out into communities and reach all the young people they would normally interact with using their special studio bus. They cleverly adapted their offering to an online model, which helped them reach even more people! We’ve been able to support that through staff helping with education events and getting artists involved in the regular open mic nights, and we’re really looking forward to doing more in person in the summer.

Collaborating to create change

For us selection is very much the beginning, not the end, of the relationship. It’s about securing and supporting long term partnerships for positive change. We strive to add value to all our partnerships that goes beyond just the financial transaction, so we discuss during the application process what other support might be helpful from Sony Music UK for the organisation.

If they are approved, we then match a Sony ambassador to them, who might be the employee who nominated them or someone who has a particular affinity for that cause. Their ambassador is committed to helping them access other Sony resources, which could include securing volunteers, mentors, technical support or other specialist knowledge – and even artist involvement.

Of course, we also use our reach and channels to spread the word about our amazing partners too so more people can find out about the work they are doing.

Assessing the wider impact

Consider the 3T course we launched. It’s a free and comprehensive twelve-week programme designed to provide a wide array of technical touring skills and to create opportunities for a new generation of black women in live music. It received more than 500 applications from black British women in less than eight hours upon opening last year. Modules including lighting design, computer programming and audio engineering could be studied by the participants.

In October 2020 the chosen ten applicants became the first cohort of students to graduate. Students ranged from 21-38 years old and had musical and technical backgrounds, with a shared enthusiasm to learn.

The first year of this course was a huge success and the class of 2020 proved every bit as talented as expected. Everyone involved in teaching the course believe we have the next generation of top-class touring professionals within the group.

It is early days in terms of gathering data on our impact, however, we can already see the incredible work our partners are doing and things they’re able to expand on with our support. Our funded programmes give opportunities to those who might not otherwise have had them – be that giving young black musicians access to a scholarship at The Royal Academy of Music, or a safe space for young black women and girls to overcome trauma and connect with inspirational mentors.