I’ve always used this platform as a means to introduce readers to things I find cool or interesting, and to highlight the efforts of some amazing people in the music industry. But there are some things on the opposite side of that binary that warrant discussion.
A number of years ago, I noticed that I had predominantly bought tickets to gigs that were male artists. Living as a student meant I had limited disposable income for gigs but the acts that I had been prioritising were entirely male artists or in the case of one, male headlined. In an attempt to amend this, I budgeted around attending more gigs where the artist was Female or non-male and aimed to bring the precentage to 50/50.
This meant, admittedly, having to say no to gigs I wanted to go to because I only had the cash for 3 gigs that month and had seen 2 male headline acts the previous month. But in confining to myself that limitation it had its benefits; I sought out non-male acts significantly more, I listened to more music as a whole, I put thought to what gigs I was going to and why, which made me increasingly aware of the music scene that was on my doorstep.
Being more aware of who I was allowing to speak allowed me to become more aware of those who so often are subconsciously overlooked because of how little social conditioning tells us to value their voice or opinions.
A common, accepted understanding among a lot of males within the industry is that there is a serious problem with the representation of gender minorities in the music industry and that it is something that really needs to be addressed. That’s something I do agree with, however, where the intention is sound, but the execution is often lazy. I’m not sure if it’s a case of blind ignorance or if being seen waving the libertarian flag is trendy enough to win brownie points.
It’s no secret that men still account for the vast majority of gender representation in the industry, the majority of established acts, festival slots, promoters, agents, managers, music journalists, radio presenters, music faculty members, or even the folks selling the instruments to the next generation is still overwhelmingly male saturated and having a token woman for box-ticking is far from enough, especially when the workplace makes no further efforts to make them feel properly represented.
We need to do better to recognise the merit of non-male musicians and music professionals and make active and deliberate choices to ensure that their voices are heard at every level. And also to be aware of, recognise and question those who aren’t pulling their weight.
I’ll give an example.
A venue here in Dublin, as I write this I’ve decided will be unnamed, has announced that they will host two new female artist focused nights, both of which are run by women and book women artists to give them that much needed platform, one of which is also showcasing feminist art.
On the outside this is good, progressive and the type of events that local scenes need to be paying more attention to. And on Instagram the venue have gone on to praise this, utilising International women’s day to parade this well needed change and are more than happy to claim the good-guy points for hosting these shows.
As much as I wish the respective organisers the best with this, and don’t wish for this article to diminish their efforts in any way, I would also encourage them to ask what percentage of the particular venue’s events team is non-male, and for how long has it been zero?
And why then, if as a venue, they value the balance of gender representation so strongly did they sack their only non-male member of events staff?
And to the venue. Do better.
This isn’t an isolated offence, but it’s certainly an example of what we should be increasingly aware of. Ignorance in this case is absolutely a choice, but it’s not irreparable. We just need to be active and intentional about it.
Promote female artists, hire women and gender minorities, include them in marketing material, intentionally seek them out, include them in interviews, spotlights, showcases, blog posts and playlists, buy their work, support what they do, recommend them to others as individuals, spend your time, effort and money on supporting this goal. Make active choices to become aware of more female artists, promoters, producers, engineers. And if you already do that, open the conversation with your employees or colleagues on how you could represent them better and create a more workable environment instead of lazy box ticking, alienation and then culling them by the skin of your teeth the minute you get a thinly veiled excuse.
If you’re a label, consider ways that you can branch out and represent more female or female fronted acts.
If you’re a radio presenter consider ways in which you can get more female artists heard.
If you’re a journalist assigned with writing about an all-female or female fronted band, please understand how much of an important role you have in the narrative here, and maybe approach it with some of the excitement as you do for the ritualistic feet-washing you give established male artists. Just a thought.
Either way, If you’re interested in ways in which your music-based company can implement changes to further support gender balance Mid-Riff podcast, run by Hilary B. Jones, and Jones’ own blog are full of useful resources, pointers and insights from non-male music professionals on their experiences and ways in which we can make the workplace more inclusive.
And this resource isn’t isolated, for my fellow teaching friends, Brittany Frompovich hosts a series on online bass guitar magazine No Treble called Wonder Women that showcases female bass players. Use these platforms to inform and include.
Alternatively, message me here. I will never shy away from chatting to someone who is genuinely interested in improving on inclusivity and I will approach it patiently and without judgement.
My partner is an amazing artist, film music composer, and local promoter and this is a topic both of us keep at the core of what we do.
Admittedly, I am in the last 2 months of final year in college and in opening this conversation, I more than welcome anyone who is genuinely interested in ways they, as an individual or as a company, can do better at creating a more inclusive, gender balanced, no-flag-bearing-bullshit workplace to send me a message or an email, I’ll make the time where I have to and we’ll go from there.
Thank you for reading.
A Study in Audiosynthesis 