A leading music business figure has slammed the industry's sexist treatment of women, saying it is "a huge problem".
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday after singer Lizzie Marvelly's hard-hitting column about the issue in yesterday's Weekend Herald, Australasian Performing Right Association head of operations Anthony Healey said women got a raw deal in music.
Kiwi music star Marvelly said she had been groped, manhandled and had music industry chiefs attempt to force a kiss on her when she started out in the business. In some cases the men were old enough to be her father; in others they were married.
Healey said her comments raised important questions about the way women are treated in the music world and claimed there were numerous examples of sexism both here and overseas.
"The music business undeniably has a huge problem with its relationship to gender," Healey said. "The lack of women in roles of responsibility and decision-making has been woeful. Has this led to an environment where sexism prevails? Without question it has."