Headliners are (no shit) the key acts – the biggest ones booked to try and draw a crowd to your festival.
If there isn’t a suitable act at that ‘level’ to book amongst female artists etc. then what are Festival organisers supposed to do; book lower-level artists just to tick a demographic box then watch people go to festivals with a more attractive line-up?
> Progress has been made on some line-ups, however. Wireless festival headliners are SZA, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj – all female.
Looks like that’s what Wireless has done, as Glastonbury, Reading and Latitude all have a better line-up of headliners.
Not saying the likes of Nicki Minaj don’t have their fans but if they think I’d go see her and pass up on seeing RATM, they’re nuts.
> “It’s definitely disappointing,” says Maggie Rogers, who will be returning to the UK this summer to perform at Latitude Festival.
> “When that doesn’t happen – when the line-ups reiterate imbalances that exist in gender and race and class – it’s not surprising, but it’s certainly not ideal.”
If I’m going to a music festival it’s to be entertained – to see bands I enjoy. I don’t care what gender or race or class they are but if I don’t enjoy them because you’re too busy trying to tick gender / race / class boxes over booking talented acts then I wouldn’t go.
> “The music industry has been largely run and dominated by males since the beginning of time,” she says.
And yet Madonna, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Abba, Paramore, Garbage, The Cranberries, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Florence and the Machine… (and I’ve stopped because that’s 15 acts already, not including those mentioned above or pop acts like Steps etc.)… have all done very well.
Like businesses trying to address their gender balances by hiring board level women then finding (shock horror) there aren’t many around… they’re trying to fix the problem *at the end of the food chain* by hiring headline female acts then finding they haven’t got enough options to suit. If this needs addressing, start at the beginning by finding and promoting more female talent into the industry.
Wireless festival headliners are SZA, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj – all female.
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That’s a big argument against female headliners if that’s the best they can drag up.
Most male artists never headline a show. Headliners have to draw a crowd.
Im sure there are problems at the start but I dont want to pay to see average bands put where they dont belong.
Why stop at female? What about race, gender identity etc? See the problem?
[removed]
So boycott the festivals and don’t cover them, but somehow i think the beeb will still send 150 staff to Glasto to cover the festival (granted most on a licence fee paid jolly).
We really going to pretend that women are underrepresented in *Music* lol..
I went to a smallish festival last year near York – the Magpies Festival (acoustic, folk, Americana based) and the organisers had made a point of getting a 50/50 balance of performers by gender. It is also, most unusually, a festival with a female director. Not a coincidence, methinks, but still very satisfying, even to a middle-aged bloke like myself. I’ll be going again…
13% isn’t bad considering how women in music have been sidelined for decades (not just as performers, but fans). It is a gradual thing.
Who cares? Christ.
I used to play in bands a lot, and in all of the times I’ve spent rehearsal studios and unpaid gigs in little pubs I don’t think I ever saw an all-female band. If women aren’t forming all-female bands in the first place; if they aren’t putting time, effort and money into practising to make the band good; if seemingly less than 5% of bands that ever form in the UK are all-female, then why would anybody expect to see plenty of all-female bands headlining at music festivals?
If 99% of women have no interest in being in an all-female band, I don’t think that means the 1% who are interested should get special treatment just to give an illusion of equality.
Having said that, I’m aware that the writers of the article have conflated female solo artists (of whom there are plenty around) with all-female bands (of whom there are very few), but if they want to muddy the water by conflating those two seperate issue that’s their own problem.
10 comments
Headliners are (no shit) the key acts – the biggest ones booked to try and draw a crowd to your festival.
If there isn’t a suitable act at that ‘level’ to book amongst female artists etc. then what are Festival organisers supposed to do; book lower-level artists just to tick a demographic box then watch people go to festivals with a more attractive line-up?
> Progress has been made on some line-ups, however. Wireless festival headliners are SZA, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj – all female.
Looks like that’s what Wireless has done, as Glastonbury, Reading and Latitude all have a better line-up of headliners.
Not saying the likes of Nicki Minaj don’t have their fans but if they think I’d go see her and pass up on seeing RATM, they’re nuts.
> “It’s definitely disappointing,” says Maggie Rogers, who will be returning to the UK this summer to perform at Latitude Festival.
> “When that doesn’t happen – when the line-ups reiterate imbalances that exist in gender and race and class – it’s not surprising, but it’s certainly not ideal.”
If I’m going to a music festival it’s to be entertained – to see bands I enjoy. I don’t care what gender or race or class they are but if I don’t enjoy them because you’re too busy trying to tick gender / race / class boxes over booking talented acts then I wouldn’t go.
> “The music industry has been largely run and dominated by males since the beginning of time,” she says.
And yet Madonna, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Abba, Paramore, Garbage, The Cranberries, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Florence and the Machine… (and I’ve stopped because that’s 15 acts already, not including those mentioned above or pop acts like Steps etc.)… have all done very well.
Like businesses trying to address their gender balances by hiring board level women then finding (shock horror) there aren’t many around… they’re trying to fix the problem *at the end of the food chain* by hiring headline female acts then finding they haven’t got enough options to suit. If this needs addressing, start at the beginning by finding and promoting more female talent into the industry.
Wireless festival headliners are SZA, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj – all female.
​
​
That’s a big argument against female headliners if that’s the best they can drag up.
Most male artists never headline a show. Headliners have to draw a crowd.
Im sure there are problems at the start but I dont want to pay to see average bands put where they dont belong.
Why stop at female? What about race, gender identity etc? See the problem?
[removed]
So boycott the festivals and don’t cover them, but somehow i think the beeb will still send 150 staff to Glasto to cover the festival (granted most on a licence fee paid jolly).
We really going to pretend that women are underrepresented in *Music* lol..
I went to a smallish festival last year near York – the Magpies Festival (acoustic, folk, Americana based) and the organisers had made a point of getting a 50/50 balance of performers by gender. It is also, most unusually, a festival with a female director. Not a coincidence, methinks, but still very satisfying, even to a middle-aged bloke like myself. I’ll be going again…
[https://www.themagpiesfestival.co.uk/](https://www.themagpiesfestival.co.uk/)
13% isn’t bad considering how women in music have been sidelined for decades (not just as performers, but fans). It is a gradual thing.
Who cares? Christ.
I used to play in bands a lot, and in all of the times I’ve spent rehearsal studios and unpaid gigs in little pubs I don’t think I ever saw an all-female band. If women aren’t forming all-female bands in the first place; if they aren’t putting time, effort and money into practising to make the band good; if seemingly less than 5% of bands that ever form in the UK are all-female, then why would anybody expect to see plenty of all-female bands headlining at music festivals?
If 99% of women have no interest in being in an all-female band, I don’t think that means the 1% who are interested should get special treatment just to give an illusion of equality.
Having said that, I’m aware that the writers of the article have conflated female solo artists (of whom there are plenty around) with all-female bands (of whom there are very few), but if they want to muddy the water by conflating those two seperate issue that’s their own problem.