Sammy Stein's 3 favorite reads in 2024

This book features over forty women and several men across various genres and roles. While the women provide firsthand accounts, the men offer outside perspectives, presenting a broader, unbiased look at industry dynamics.
With a foreword by composer Bushra El-Turk, the book reveals unsettling statistics from surveys, polls, and reports on gender discrimination, harassment, and under representation in music. it also reveals the positive moves that are happening to improve things - not least those instigated by men who, because the music industry seemingly ignores recommendations, have decided they do not want to continue missing out on almost fifty percent of musicians to work with due to entrenched.

The interviews create a dynamic (and sometimes very funny) conversation with the women answering questions (and raising more) on diversity and equality in the music industry and what can be done to further improve the situation. How do you cope with a guy who gets into your bunk on the trou bus, for example, or at a venue with no loo door in the dressing room? We meet rappers, rock guitarists, classical musicians, jazz musicians - Dame Evelyn Glennie, the trailblazing percussionist, managers, and advocates. This variety gives readers an eclectic, but well-rounded cross-section of voices.
Interview quotes are interwoven with research, providing both personal insight and a well-documented view of ongoing industry challenges.
One of the book’s standout elements according to one reviewer, is its inclusivity. It features perspectives from women who have faced sexism and others who report no negative experiences, though the latter are in the minority. A notable example is Saskhia Menendez, a trans woman who has experienced the industry from both gender perspectives and notes the marked difference in how she was treated.
Candid is refreshingly thorough, balancing personal testimonies with broader social context. Unlike other books on women in music, which often focus on either genre or gender, Candid merges both topics and covers a highly diverse range of voices. There is a section called 'Words of Wisdom' and two full length interviews with percussionists Phil Raskin and Dame Evelyn Glennie - both of whom have enjoyed decades-long success.
Candid is a vital read for anyone interested in understanding the music industry’s current landscape from an inclusive, multifaceted perspective. One reviewer has said " What I particularly like about Stein's writing is that she doesn't tell the reader what to think. Instead she juxtaposes many varied perspectives, quotes extensively from those she interviews and lets the evidence speak for itself; the effect is all the more powerful."