On a day in which BILLBOARD devoted a magazine issue and a Los Angeles gala to "Women in Music" and TAYLOR SWIFT called out SCOOTER BRAUN and "toxic male privilege in our industry" in front of everyone who was there and KESHA released a gorgeous, dark ballad called "RESENTMENT" about being taken for granted by a lover who could easily treat her better but chooses not to, a task force led by the CEO of TIME'S UP delivered a 47-page report with 18 recommendations to the RECORDING ACADEMY, which has some glaring women's issues of its own. The Academy, which has spent two years trying to dig its way out of a public mess that began with some unfortunate bookings, some unfortunate results and one infamously unfortunate comment at the 2018 GRAMMY AWARDS, immediately said yes to most of those recommendations—with two notable exceptions—and said it's already implemented several of them. It's committed to doubling the number of female voting members in the next five years. It's working with outside groups to promote the hiring of female producers and engineers—an arm of the industry that's overwhelmingly male and that accounts for a staggering 40 percent of the Academy's voting membership. "The fundamental problem" of Grammy voting diversity, the task force said, "cannot be solved until more women go into producing and engineering," which in turn can't happen until men start hiring them. The Academy says it will continue working toward to gender and racial balance on the committees that oversee Grammy nominations (from 2015 to 2017, the committees were 74 percent male on average) as well as the national governance committee, which sets policy for the Academy. But is there still some resistance to change at the top? The Academy's Awards and Nominations Committee said no for now to a suggestion that it switch to ranked-choice voting in the Grammys' big four categories—the task force says it would increase diversity and decrease the chance for "polarizing" winners—and the Academy rejected a radical change to the structure of its board of trustees, which is currently two-thirds male and two-thirds white, in favor of a more moderate one. The 38 trustees are chosen by the Academy's local chapters, which the task force says have been historically resistant to change. It suggested dividing the board seats equally among the chapters, the full membership and a new diversity and inclusion committee. Instead the Academy will give the chapters electoral power over 30 seats and the full membership a voice in the other eight. Will a smaller change at the top inhibit bigger changes everywhere else, or is change inevitable no matter what the board looks like? Time will tell. One other thing the Academy has promised: More transparency... In a second part of the report that addressed wider issues across the music business, the Academy's task force zeroed in on the lack of airplay for female artists at country radio and offered a bold, simple plan of action: "The 'unwritten rule' limiting women’s airtime on country music radio stations must be abolished, and... key stakeholders with national force (such as labels) can insist upon it by withholding business unless there is meaningful change." Yes, please... A day after Billboard reported that NETFLIX is asking composers on many of its shows to give up their backend royalties, VARIETY says DISCOVERY NETWORKS, which includes DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ANIMAL PLANET and HGTV, is flat-out demanding such buyouts of its composers, not only for current shows but for "all past shows on its networks," too. Variety's JON BURLINGAME reports that Discovery has told composers if they don't sign away their U.S. royalties by Dec. 31, it will strip their music out of existing shows and replace it with library music. And in exchange? "There was no financial component," one composer told Burlingame, "to compensate me for any domestic royalties they are asking me to sign away." So, speaking of withholding business: You, dear reader and music lover, probably have access to hundreds and hundreds of channels of televised comments. May I suggest you choose with this in mind?... It's FRIDAY (the 13th) and that means news music from STORMZY, HARRY STYLES, KAYTRANADA, BLAKE SHELTON, DUSTER, FREE NATIONALS, SMOKEPURPP, ANNIE HART, WARREN STORM, SKULLCRUSH, EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING, ATMOSPHERE, the UNCUT GEMS score by ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER's DANIEL LOPATIN, and ST. VINCENT and FEVER RAY remix albums.