The issue of under-representation of women at music festivals
When the Reading and Leeds lineup was released in February this year, I saw this tweet about the lack of women on the line-up and was a bit taken aback by the complete lack of representation of women, and then disturbed by the pure unadulterated misogyny I saw in the replies and quoted tweets. You might be wondering why I'm writing this post now, and for that I can't really give a specific reason, it had just been playing on my mind, and especially as we may not get festivals this year, there's more time for change to potentially take place as more and more people express their dissatisfaction. In regards to the lineup, there were a couple of common arguments used to defend it, one being something around the lines of 'it's because women make shit music' and the other being 'it's a rock festival' (as yes, apparently women can't and don't make rock music). Of course both of these arguments are invalid. The first is an opinion, and unfortunately it's an opinion an overwhelming number of people actually hold, including some of my friends. Now I know it's completely down to individual taste at the end of day and I don't believe my friends are raging sexists, but people saying women make shit music is just something I can't wrap my head around as I couldn't imagine my music library without female artists. I'm sure this has something to do with me being a woman, but all the same it's not as if I go round saying men make shit music.
With the second argument, there are two things I'd question. The first being that obviously women make rock music, and as much as it may massively still be the white man's genre, there are so many rock and indie bands featuring women that fit the festival to a T, they just aren't being booked. My second argument would be that I don't think Reading and Leeds can be called a rock festival anymore. Although guitar bands may still dominate (although arguably not), the huge influx of rap and pop artists at the festival has made it just a music festival. This argument people made made it sound like just last year the festival looked like the download lineup, which obviously couldn't be further from the truth.
Something else I saw people say when others suggested female artists who could be booked to play was 'never heard of them' as yes, sorry I forgot to say that a requirement for a festival is that you have to know every single artist on the lineup to enjoy yourself. For a festival like Reading and Leeds that caters to such a broad range of tastes it's pretty unlikely/impossible that you're going to immediately know every artist on the poster without any research, and not to mention that it's fun to go and see bands you haven't heard of before as you never know you might find a new favourite. While writing this I've sort of gathered that a lot of people are just close-minded and write things off without giving it a chance, just because you've never heard a female artist before that you love doesn't mean you never will, and stating that 'women just make shit music' is an ignorant stance to take. After all that's been said, I don't want people to think I'm singling out Reading and Leeds here as I love the festival and I know this isn't a problem that only lies with Festival Republic, I just wanted to use it as a reference point that people would already be aware of.
After this tweet garnered attention, Melvin Benn, director of Festival Republic, spoke about the ReBalance project, an initiative he founded in 2018 to give female bands and artists studio time, and then the chance to play at his festivals, which is obviously something I'm not going to criticise as it gives these artists funds to make their music as well as exposure. Something I will criticise though is the claim Benn has made over and over again stating that 'the (female) acts aren't there' which for one isn't true, and and also, maybe there would be even more 'acts there' if women getting into music didn't feel like they would be put an immediate disadvantage because of their gender. He also directly contradicted this point about the lack of female acts years earlier when he said 'gone are the days where a band was four guys. That's gone now. It's genuinely gone'. Make up your mind mate cause by the looks of your line-up and your own comments it doesn't seem like those days have gone.
Some artists themselves also reacted publicly to the 2020 Reading and Leeds festival line-up, most notably Matty Healy of the 1975, who pledged to only play festivals with an equal gender split (apart from the ones they'd already booked of course) and yes, this is the same Matty Healy whose bands recent single featured Phoebe Bridgers, a small female artist who could've gained a lot of exposure from the track, if she'd been credited on it. This was apparently a decision made by her and Matty, 'a nice surprise' if you will, but surely gaining exposure by being on one of the current biggest bands in the world's single is preferable to it being 'a nice surprise' on first listen to hear another vocalist. It's just a bit baffling to me and although not a direct link to the festival thing, it's interesting to see where priorities lie. I love the 1975 so it will be interesting to see if Matty Healy holds up his end of the festival deal, or whether it was simply for show (regardless of this I can't criticise the band too much as Dirty Hit have signed a lot of female artists and two out of three times I've seen the 1975 with supports it has been female artists opening for them).
So why should you actually care about this? I think maybe I care too much so it confuses me when other women couldn't give less of a shit (obviously not only something women should care about though) but I find it really disheartening that companies in charge of booking festivals don't seem to see the worth of having women on their lineups. I think one of the main reasons for having women on line ups is literally just variation, there are so so many indie bands booked year after year with a similar sound (and yes I know it's because this sound is popular) and yet women who are making fresh sounds, with new approaches, making music about different things aren't getting the exposure they deserve. Representation shouldn't be a privilege only granted to some, however at the same time I believe that female artists shouldn't be put on line-ups for the sake of it, which is why I don't necessarily think there has to be a 50/50 gender balance. Quite simply my point is that to me it seems like there are female artists that bookers are actively choosing not to book for whatever that reason maybe, when there is demand there for it. To me it's just a bit of a joke that in 2020, only 19 out of 93 artists on the Reading and Leeds lineup feature a woman. Obviously I'm not in a band so this is only what I feel as a consumer of music, so I'd imagine it would feel much worse for those directly in the industry (and I know festival lineups are only a fraction of the issue, sexism within the industry is so widespread but as someone not directly involved within that it is more difficult for me to write about), I also know that of course some bands turn down opportunities to play festivals, however I highly doubt that when lineups turn out as they have been, there is an equal number of male and female artists being asked to play in the first place.
With the second argument, there are two things I'd question. The first being that obviously women make rock music, and as much as it may massively still be the white man's genre, there are so many rock and indie bands featuring women that fit the festival to a T, they just aren't being booked. My second argument would be that I don't think Reading and Leeds can be called a rock festival anymore. Although guitar bands may still dominate (although arguably not), the huge influx of rap and pop artists at the festival has made it just a music festival. This argument people made made it sound like just last year the festival looked like the download lineup, which obviously couldn't be further from the truth.
Something else I saw people say when others suggested female artists who could be booked to play was 'never heard of them' as yes, sorry I forgot to say that a requirement for a festival is that you have to know every single artist on the lineup to enjoy yourself. For a festival like Reading and Leeds that caters to such a broad range of tastes it's pretty unlikely/impossible that you're going to immediately know every artist on the poster without any research, and not to mention that it's fun to go and see bands you haven't heard of before as you never know you might find a new favourite. While writing this I've sort of gathered that a lot of people are just close-minded and write things off without giving it a chance, just because you've never heard a female artist before that you love doesn't mean you never will, and stating that 'women just make shit music' is an ignorant stance to take. After all that's been said, I don't want people to think I'm singling out Reading and Leeds here as I love the festival and I know this isn't a problem that only lies with Festival Republic, I just wanted to use it as a reference point that people would already be aware of.
After this tweet garnered attention, Melvin Benn, director of Festival Republic, spoke about the ReBalance project, an initiative he founded in 2018 to give female bands and artists studio time, and then the chance to play at his festivals, which is obviously something I'm not going to criticise as it gives these artists funds to make their music as well as exposure. Something I will criticise though is the claim Benn has made over and over again stating that 'the (female) acts aren't there' which for one isn't true, and and also, maybe there would be even more 'acts there' if women getting into music didn't feel like they would be put an immediate disadvantage because of their gender. He also directly contradicted this point about the lack of female acts years earlier when he said 'gone are the days where a band was four guys. That's gone now. It's genuinely gone'. Make up your mind mate cause by the looks of your line-up and your own comments it doesn't seem like those days have gone.
Some artists themselves also reacted publicly to the 2020 Reading and Leeds festival line-up, most notably Matty Healy of the 1975, who pledged to only play festivals with an equal gender split (apart from the ones they'd already booked of course) and yes, this is the same Matty Healy whose bands recent single featured Phoebe Bridgers, a small female artist who could've gained a lot of exposure from the track, if she'd been credited on it. This was apparently a decision made by her and Matty, 'a nice surprise' if you will, but surely gaining exposure by being on one of the current biggest bands in the world's single is preferable to it being 'a nice surprise' on first listen to hear another vocalist. It's just a bit baffling to me and although not a direct link to the festival thing, it's interesting to see where priorities lie. I love the 1975 so it will be interesting to see if Matty Healy holds up his end of the festival deal, or whether it was simply for show (regardless of this I can't criticise the band too much as Dirty Hit have signed a lot of female artists and two out of three times I've seen the 1975 with supports it has been female artists opening for them).
So why should you actually care about this? I think maybe I care too much so it confuses me when other women couldn't give less of a shit (obviously not only something women should care about though) but I find it really disheartening that companies in charge of booking festivals don't seem to see the worth of having women on their lineups. I think one of the main reasons for having women on line ups is literally just variation, there are so so many indie bands booked year after year with a similar sound (and yes I know it's because this sound is popular) and yet women who are making fresh sounds, with new approaches, making music about different things aren't getting the exposure they deserve. Representation shouldn't be a privilege only granted to some, however at the same time I believe that female artists shouldn't be put on line-ups for the sake of it, which is why I don't necessarily think there has to be a 50/50 gender balance. Quite simply my point is that to me it seems like there are female artists that bookers are actively choosing not to book for whatever that reason maybe, when there is demand there for it. To me it's just a bit of a joke that in 2020, only 19 out of 93 artists on the Reading and Leeds lineup feature a woman. Obviously I'm not in a band so this is only what I feel as a consumer of music, so I'd imagine it would feel much worse for those directly in the industry (and I know festival lineups are only a fraction of the issue, sexism within the industry is so widespread but as someone not directly involved within that it is more difficult for me to write about), I also know that of course some bands turn down opportunities to play festivals, however I highly doubt that when lineups turn out as they have been, there is an equal number of male and female artists being asked to play in the first place.
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