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Post by hotdrummer on Feb 27, 2018 11:19:17 GMT
Hey folks. A can of worms here. I see a report from the BBC about festival headliners being male dominated. I had a look through Womad 2017CP and roughly came to these figures: of 91 acts, 25 were female led or majority acts including lots of female solo artists. It’s also nice to see female acts represented from male dominated societies. Certain types of music seem to be male dominated like hip hop. Is it such a big deal? I imagine yer average rock fest the figures might be different. As some kind of redress, perhaps we could see First Aid Kit in the Siam in July.
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Post by sc on Feb 27, 2018 11:52:57 GMT
Interesting subject hotdrummer, it is similar to one I pondered a few decades ago! Why were most of the gigs I attended gigs by "Male Artists" or "Male Dominated" bands whilst the "Pop" charts did not appear to be dominated by any one particular sex. The conclusion I came to was that it was the lifestyle of a travelling band vs studio band. If you think of the traditional career route a band or artist takes, it would be travelling the Country or Europe in a beaten up Transit Van, playing Pubs and Clubs for £50 a night for 10 years before your big break happens. So that could be the whole of your 20's having a right old laugh with your mates. It's a lifestyle well suited to men, no responsibilities, no ties, just a free spirit partying his way across continents. But for a female? Unfortunately "looks" are important (obviously there are exceptions) but as general rule it's true, so a rough, on the road, no sleep, life style does not suit. Additionally, women may have to make the decision of do I have kids or do I tour? Obviously men also want families but it may be easier for them to make arrangements so they can to leave the wife and kids for the sake of a 6 month tour and just ring home each day. Compare that with a studio non touring artist and for the studio artist a more balanced work life balance can be achieved and therefore more attractive to those whose "looks" and other commitments are of greater importance. I'm not saying it's right, but I suspect it may be true, that the "waiting to be discovered travelling Rock and Roll Band" is in 9/10 cases male, and so those that get the big break will in 9/10 cases also be male. I'm going to count my music collection and see how sexual equal it is, my gut feeling is that it is 60% Female 40% male  Let's see |
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Post by sc on Feb 27, 2018 14:10:12 GMT
Rather surprising part way result, my vinyls are 85% Male, 15% Female!!!!!!!!!!! Blimey I have some catching up to do on the CDs!!
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Post by sc on Feb 27, 2018 14:26:39 GMT
Just the article that you were referring to hotdrummer, we must improve things! MIA would be excellent |
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Post by sc on Feb 27, 2018 16:41:23 GMT
Right so the result is Vinyls (pre 1991) Male 161 Female 29 CDs (post 1991) Male 274 Female 130 Total Male 435 Female 159 Male 73% Female 27% I am genuinely shocked Excluded, tapes, bootlegs, copies, compilations, CD's in the car, garage and Mrs SC's studio |
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Post by digitalmonkey on Feb 27, 2018 23:27:54 GMT
Interesting subject. Although I really hope we don't go around to must having 50% of one gender and 50% another. I think some festivals argue the availability of suitable female acts to headline is quite low. You can only book what is available and what you please the paying punters.
Most of my gigs generally feature female lead singer although musicians more male orientated. I'm talking about my folk and country gigs. You get the odd all female act like The Good Lovelies or the Poozies.
Veering off subject, be interested to see the nationality of acts booked. There does seem a mass bias towards American or British acts for many festivals which you would expect but more work should be done to be more global. Reading Rock being a case in point. This probably illustrates the lack of diversity across radio, record companies and beyond.
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Post by standing stone on Feb 28, 2018 9:24:24 GMT
I just hope festivals don't get too swayed by balancing on grounds of gender. A festival reflecting my CD collection would have fewer than 10% female artists.
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Post by sc on Feb 28, 2018 10:12:11 GMT
It sounds as though the issue is that the headline acts at festivals are only reflecting the gender balance of the music industry rather than being inequitable themselves. Perhaps the focus should be "How can the music industry be more accessible to women?"
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Post by calndel on Feb 28, 2018 20:05:30 GMT
if never makes a difference to us what gender a performer is
sadly as Suzie Quarto said to be a female performer you need to be better than all the male
while there may be more female artist getting discovered thanks to them being able to promote themselves on social media many record companies, produces and promoters are male and they are very set in the their ways
so when it comes to pulling together a WOMAD line up it may not be down to WOMAD not picking female artist, they may not have that many female artist to call on
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Post by deserttraveller on Feb 28, 2018 21:54:20 GMT
Shame. I just read this thread as 'Festival sexual activity'. Could be a new thread.
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Post by sc on Feb 28, 2018 22:04:27 GMT
Shame. I just read this thread as 'Festival sexual activity'. Could be a new thread. I’m too old for all that millarky, but happy to watch 😉😉😉 |
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Post by Zenrider on Mar 1, 2018 5:25:00 GMT
Women are heavily outnumbered, but gaining ground. I don't think it's something that needs to be forced, as much as something allowed to happen.
However, they are expected to be far more perfect than their male counterparts in both looks and talent to be considered equal to even average male singers/bands.
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Post by olirow on Mar 1, 2018 23:52:02 GMT
Must admit to having a strong preference for female singers since, as a sweeping generalisation, they can sing a whole lot better than men! Take a bow Karen Peris, Karin Bergquist and Natalie Merchant, there have been years when I have listened to no one else...
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Post by Zenrider on Mar 2, 2018 19:29:38 GMT
Shame. I just read this thread as 'Festival sexual activity'. Could be a new thread. I'm thinking he went for a more catchy title than Festival Gender Equality would have been. |
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Post by mikey on Mar 6, 2018 18:08:45 GMT
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Let's see 
