Record Company Offers Wage Gap Discount for Women

A record company in Portland, Oregon called M’lady’s Records, has announced that women living in the U.S. will get to pay 77 percent list price for all of their mail orders. The discount reflects the current wage gap, in which an average full-time working woman in America earns 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. The label, whose catalogue includes artists such as Freakapuss, Vexx and Religious to Damn, posted news of the discount on their Facebook page, stating “Equal rights is everyone’s business.”

When asked by NPR how much the discount will affect the label’s bottom line, co-owner Brett Lyman wasn’t concerned. “The bottom line for this label is about engaging with this amorphous and elusive community some people call ‘the underground,’” he said. “That bottom line has kept us going through the growing pains of trying to manage a self-financed DIY record outfit. If we were in this to stay fiscally sound, it would have been abandoned before it even started.” M’lady’s also shot down critics on their Facebook page who sent links trying to prove the wage gap is a myth.

Other businesses such as Brooklyn’s Way Station bar and a pop-up shop called 76>100, have also offered the same type of discount in recent months, but while the bar’s was temporary and the shop is a traveling project, M’lady’s will be an ongoing offer.