In order to truly understand the role systemic racism players in a label with a white roster, or a website that primarily covers white artists, in highly diverse music scenes, we need to talk about how things actually work behind the scenes.

Despite a carefully constructed illusion of people listening to music and deciding if it is good or not, this could not be further from the case. Rather, there is a highly consolidated and tightly controlled network of lawyers, managers, agents, PR, and other middlemen.

These groups form "teams" with each other around artists, which then bring the artists to their friends at labels, festivals, music websites, playlist editors, and more.

Most labels and other institutions aren't truly very interested in the music at all, but rather who is on the "team."

It is a fact they will never admit, but start trying to find artists on these labels, on festivals, and with significant press coverage without one, and it is an undeniable fact. So much so that artists often work to assemble this "team "before they even have their first album.

If you haven't guessed it, these teams are not very diverse. They are almost all the same skin color, sex, and age. A similar demographic to those with power at labels, festivals, and music journalism.

The less that labels, festivals, and music journalists actively refuse to work with these "teams," the more diverse their rosters become, regardless of their taste in music. This too is simply an undeniable fact that can be seen from example after example.

The goal of these teams is to package artists into something they can easily sell to as many places as possible and move around like a product. This is why festivals have such similar lineups. Why websites cover such similar artists in similar ways.

Why the same artists get playlisted. And why labels who want to work with artists based on sell-ability, their ability to get coverage, get playlisted, and to play festivals, end up with such bland white rosters.

This is also why cosmetic changes and promises to "check out more submissions" from non-white artists mean absolutely nothing.

Offering that as a solution, willingly ignores how the system that got them there really operates, so they intentionally may continue to perpetuate it without real change.