As an industry we have a long way to go:
- “Of the top 20 highest earning songwriters and music composers in the UK last year, only one was female.” ~ PRS for Music
- In Norway, “of [the] 203 songwriters behind the 50 most streamed songs of 2018, only 11,3% were women, and only one of the 83 producers behind the songs were female,” ~ Spotify (via Music Ally)
- In the UK “Ninety-one men or all-male groups were credited on the Official Chart Company’s top 100 most popular songs of 2018 – compared with 30 female acts.” ~ BBC News
- and worse, from the same BBC article “the gender gap has grown over the past decade. Thirteen of the most popular 100 songs of 2018 were credited only to female acts – down from 35 in 2008.”
“The gender gap has grown over the past decade” – BBC News
As a sprouting folk, country and alternative record label, it’s something we are wanting to get right from the start. But how? Alberta Music hosted a panel Edmonton Women in Music on Friday which we attended. The panelists discussed how they had felt and experienced discrimination in the industry. But they saw positivity in future generations. Cassia Hardy from the band Wares implored us “To listen to youth, let them show us how to be more humane and inclusive.” Amanda Gregoire advised us to “Try to be a good human.”
“Try to be a good human” – Amanda Gregoire
The discussion can be watched in full here: https://www.facebook.com/albertamusic/videos/561867527649409/
Whilst the panel focused mainly on the live music aspect of the industry, we hope to apply some of the lessons and examples to the recorded music sphere.But as a small label, with plans to release only a handful of projects in this first year, it’s going to be hard for us to get this right.
Please share your thoughts. How can we get this right, from the start?
(Photo: Mariel Buckley at Station On Jasper. We are not affiliated with Mariel, but we do think she rocks)