“You’re black, you must sound like Whitney Houston” - how a small artist is writing her own story

Photograph: Martine Lund

The music industry is tough. Small artists are struggling to break into the pop scene in what some are calling the ‘streaming era’. With apps like TikTok being used to kickstart careers, and even end some, how are today’s young artists fighting to get their big break?

Twenty-year-old Cathy Kio is an emerging indie singer from South East London who is currently residing in Leeds, attending an arts university. Kio began her music journey by uploading covers onto Instagram in 2020, adding her own twist to songs like You’ve Got the Love by Florence and the Machine and Imagine by John Lennon.

In May 2020, she released her debut single, Annabelle, an LBGTQ song about falling in love with a girl whilst questioning her sexuality. The self-written song was released onto platforms such as Spotify and YouTube with an accompanying music video.

“Officially, I’ve been making music for a year and a half, because that was when I first realised my song, Annabelle, but I’ve been writing songs for a long time. They weren’t very good obviously, but I’ve been writing songs since about seven or eight,” she explained.

Today’s listeners streaming habits are certainly making it harder for artists to sell their music in more traditional ways, as an entire library of music is just a few taps away, complete with personalised playlists. With Spotify, for example, paying artists around £0.0031 per stream, small artists are turning to gigs to get their music out there - though that also has its pitfalls.

“Because I did so many gigs so close together, I was at a loss from doing that rather than gaining anything.

“They pay like nothing. The taxi could be about twenty quid for a gig, and you’re getting paid thirty quid between the whole band. It’s just ridiculous. One of the biggest promoters in Leeds said they’d pay me two pounds a ticket even though they’re charging ten pounds. Then they didn’t even pay me the money they owed me.

“If you’re not getting exploited through streams, you’re getting exploited through gigs. I think the step forward that I will think about, is promoting it and doing all the work myself because the person who does that is the one who takes all the money. But with streams, I think that’s a lost cause, to be honest."

Photograph: Hamish Irvine

Cathy has also experienced first-hand how racism in the music industry is still present today. A recent Black Lives in Music survey found that 63% of Black music creators had experienced “direct or indirect racism, including explicit racist language or different treatment” because of their race or ethnicity. Of those creators, 86% say they have faced barriers to their career because of their race.

"People love to assume what I’m gonna sound like based on how I look. They think ‘oh, you’re black, you’re a soul singer, you must sound like Whitney Houston or Jennifer Hudson’. And then, when I don't, it’s either a positive surprise or like I'm not worth listening to.

“A lot of the time it's more subtle, it's not like someone is gonna say it to my face. It’s more like people either don’t expect to see a black person in that situation or a lot of the time I'm the only black person there.

“Me and my two best friends at university - we all train together - did pre-auditions for The Voice. My two best friends who are both white got in and I didn’t. Obviously, that doesn’t take away from them at all, they’re both great singers.

Photograph: Olivia Georgia Gray

“Stuff like that makes me very protective of my identity. I feel like I can be quite selfish sometimes, if I find an opportunity, I’ll do it myself and keep it quiet. And I've been taught to do that, my parents have always told me to do that because everything is just so rigged against us. If I do have an opportunity, and I give it to a friend, and they get it and I don't, then it's a massive slap in the face.

Artists such as Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Tinie Tempah have also publicly spoken out against inequalities they have faced in the industry due to their race, leading to them feeling “invisible” and unsupported.

But Cathy is optimistic about her future, as well as the future of the music industry, where she is beginning to see more conventions being challenged and gender stereotypes being broken. “I do think the music industry is growing a bit more cumulative. I see a lot of bands with people who look like straight, white guys, playing bright pink guitars with nail polish on, and I think that’s so nice.

“I think my career’s getting off to a good start and I hope it carries on this way. The one thing I’ve started to look at playing festivals in different parts of the UK because I usually play in Leeds. I’d like to explore music scenes in other places and grow in the UK and see what’s out there."

You can find Cathy’s website here.