Music festivals: The next battle ground for gender balance

The motion, which will be debated at the STUC Women’s Conference in Dundee next month, supports lobbying politicians and governing bodies in the industry to do more to ensure gender parity in the music industry.

With statistics showing eight out of 10 headliners at festivals across the UK this year were men, suggestions include tying requirements for sponsorship and arts funding to more gender balanced bills.

The motion put down by MU – which represents more than 30,000 professional musicians – calls for union members to acknowledge “the lack of women appearing on festival programmes and in venues throughout the country” and well as “the lack of women in positions to

influence what the public listens to on radio”. It also highlights how few women are managing venues. It claims these factors are putting up barriers to women pursuing careers as musicians.

Caroline Sewell, MU’s regional organiser, said: “The UK music industry is a heavily male dominated environment across the board. From performing artists to managers and industry execs, women are massively under-represented and for black, asian, minority or disabled women the issue is even worse.

“This is clear to see from festival line ups across the UK. Sadly, it is an almost accepted fact among female musicians that they have to play better and rock harder to simply achieve the same level of recognition as their male counterparts.”

She said that while quotas could be a useful tool, they could also lead female acts to be booked “to tick a box”. “At best it can be patronising, at worst it is intimidating and stifling to female participation at all levels,” she added.

Instead she said it was important that TV and radio execs, music promoters and festival organisers worked harder to highlight talented female musicians and make women more visible.

“There is a growing level of awareness but we are still very far away from where we need to be,” she said. “The MU takes the issue very seriously.

“There must be more of a focus on gender diversity from promoters to influence what the live music scene currently looks like and this must include an increased number of female acts who are booked into headliner slots – we must have more visible women in elevated positions across the industry.”

MU will be launching a mentoring scheme for women members in the near future, she added.

Despite a weighty list of female music mega stars including Beyonce Knowles, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande – whose sell-out world tours command big bucks and plenty of high profile coverage – the under-representation of women in music is a long running issue.

In January this year the US-based global think tank, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which had previously investigated the lack of diversity in Hollywood, published a report on inclusion in the music industry.

It found under 17% of artists – and 2% percent of producers – were women. Just 12% of credited songwriters were female and of those almost three quarters had only worked once in six years. More than 90% of those nominated for a Grammy Award between 2013 and 2018 were male.

According to the Performing Rights Society (PRS), women made up just over a quarter the line-up in a sample of large UK music festivals in 2017. It has now set up Keychange, an international initiative which aims to “transform the future of music and encourages festivals to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022”.

“It’s about men and women in positions of influence promoting role models, investing in female talent, recognising the barriers for women in a male dominated industry and leading change that will benefit everyone,” said spokesman Tom White.

So far mainstream festivals have been slow to sign up – only Celtic Connections, the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and music conferences Wide Days and XpoNorth have made the pledge in Scotland.

Others Scottish festivals this year did less well. Out of 90 acts listed on Glasgow’s TRSNMT’s line up just 22 were women or bands featuring prominent female members while just five headliners on the main stage were female acts or bands fronted by women.

The included Sharleen Spiteri’s Texas, Lauren Mayberry’s Chvrches, singers Jessie J, Jessie Ware, and London band Wolf Alice.

In the Highlands only 10 of Belladrum’s 72 acts were women, though usually it was headlined by two women, English singer Paloma Faith and Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald.

Electric Fields in Dumfries and Galloway fared slightly better, with 18 of its 65 listed acts being female, though the headliners, Noel Gallagher, James, and Leftfield were all men. Meanwhile, the all-day festival at St Luke’s music venue in Glasgow, featured no women at all, down from just two last year.

White agreed that progress was needed. He added: “The fact that this debate is now happening in Scotland and that it’s being taken seriously by Scotland’s Musicians Union members is an important and constructive way to accelerate change.”

The call for greater equality on music bills was also backed by Scottish musician Nina Nesbitt, who claimed that despite criticism of TRSMNT she was “impressed” with the gender split on the day she played at the festival this summer. The Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and musician, who once dated Ed Sheeran, is best known for her single Stay Out.

“I’m very pleased to see effort being made to further represent women in the music industry whether it be as live artists, on the radio and TV or on the business side,” she told the Sunday National. “I hope every event will strive for a fair amount of female artists and bands on their line ups.

“There really isn’t a shortage of quality out there and I think we are often overlooked especially at higher positions in corporations and headline slots at gigs and festivals.”

Sammy Andrews, a promoter and manager who last year launched the Let’s Be The Change initiative aimed at making music industry events more diverse after finding herself often the only women on the panel, said there was still much to be done.

“There have been many steps taken in the music industry over the past few years to help gender quality but sadly,” she said.

“The clear lack of equality has a wide impact and in UK Music’s recent diversity report it found an alarming drop off in women across the industry of a certain age. The government’s recent gender pay report showed a hideous disparity between what men and women are paid in the industry.”

She said many award categories and live events features few, or in some cases no, women. “This can and must change,” she added.

A BBC spokesman said it had signed up to Keychange and was committed to achieving a 50% gender split in its staff and on-screen portrayal by 2020.

Last week it was reported that radio DJ Zoe Ball would replace Chris Evans on Radio 2’s Breakfast Show after he resigned last month, the first time the flagship programme will have had a female presenter. Despite a number of high profile DJs including Annie Mac and Edith Bowman on Radio One and Jo Whiley, Cerys Matthews and Lauren Laverne on 6 Music, women are still out numbered by men across the BBC’s music and entertainment output.

He added: “The BBC believes in equality and reflecting the whole of society. Earlier this year, director of BBC Scotland Donalda MacKinnon led a project to set out a range of recommendations to improve the culture and career progression of women at the BBC. We’re implementing these recommendations now and remain committed to equality across the organisation.”

A spokesman for Creative Scotland said it “is wholly committed to enhancing equalities, diversity and inclusion through our funding and through all aspects of our work and operations”. He added: “We welcome any initiatives by others that also support that commitment.”