ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IMPALA HIGHLIGHTS INITIATIVES INSPIRING CHANGE
Brussels, 8th March 2022
International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to highlight initiatives and good practices which contribute to a fairer music industry. Promoting a diverse and inclusive European independent music sector is a key priority for IMPALA all year. Today we are putting the spotlight on a range of networks, podcasts, playlists and more to check out on International Women’s Day.
“IMPALA has a dedicated diversity and inclusion programme running all year long and today we highlight initiatives you can check to get inspired and take action on International Women’s Day. We encourage our members to share best practices across Europe and work on a fairer industry collectively.” Helen Smith, IMPALA’s executive chair.
12 Networks you can support:
This is Upfront is a network of and for women, non-binary and trans music producers. Their mission is to create and facilitate a network that generates unique opportunities for both producers and music industry. They organise songwriting camps, listening sessions, workshops and showcases.
Womxn in CTRL is a Not-For-Profit organisation that was set up to empower and inspire women in the entertainment, creative and business sectors of the music industry. Women in CTRL encourage women to find their strengths, develop their own personal brand and build the tools and confidence to become leaders. They have also released a revealing report on diversity in music trade organisations.
Connect’Her is a platform accessible free of charge for everyone. The aim is to promote connections, mutual help and artistic synergies within the French female electronic music scene. You can look for female artists, collectives and there is a media section dedicated to female artists and DJs news.
Future Female Sounds is a non-profit organisation, community and booking agency focused exclusively on women & gender minority DJs, founded in 2017 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. They’re on a mission “to make DJ culture accessible to girls globally!” They run local and global DJ Programmes where they arrange DJ workshops, master classes, and network meetings for womxn and gender minorities.
Bandshe is a data base dedicated for all womxn working in live music. “Music has no gender. So does talent.” This association provides support for women in their professional development, respect for parity and fairer working conditions in order to fight against sexist discrimination in this sector.
The F-List is the Directory of UK Female+ Musicians, empowering female and gender-expansive people to start and sustain music careers. It offers musicians, groups and music companies in the UK a simple way to connect with profile and professional opportunities. This is an absolutely free service as they are supported by private donations and charitable funds. You can add your entry as well – find more info and submit your profile here.
Shesaid.so is a global community of women, gender minorities and allies in the music industry. The shesaid.so community spreads over all sectors of the music industry. Its mission is “to connect and empower underrepresented communities towards a more equitable music industry for all, one woman or gender minority at a time.”
MEWEM Europa is a project to implement and manage mentoring programmes for women in the music industry on a European scale. The project’s goal is that in the future, more women will also shape the music industry in leadership positions and as founders. Therefore, the project promotes access to management positions and entrepreneurship as well as the development of management skills among young women in the music industry.
Music Women* Germany is the Network for all music women*, female-identifying and non-binary individuals in the German music industry. The Music Women* Germany initiative was launched at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg for an audience of 400 people and including the release of the first nationwide database for female* experts and artists. Each regional Music Women* network is supported by a local partner entity. Information on the structure of the local Music Women* networks can be found here.
MYM is a platform which gives visibility to women as creators in music. Users can share suggestions for new additions to complete the database. Discover the list of artists and the search tool with filters to find what you are looking for. The tags mark musical genre, country, period, instrument… and can help you discover great artists.
Keychange is a global network and movement working towards gender equality in the music industry. Keychange consists of partners collaborating from 12 different countries, working proactively to make change. Sign the pledge, apply to their programme and join them in their campaign for parity – you’ll find more info here.
The Cat’s Mother is a network of women in the Music and Creative Industries offering voluntary consultancy for young aspiring creatives, aged 18-25. This network was founded by Niki Evangelou and Natalie Wade in 2019 after working together at a youth-led music charity for 6 years and realised “the difference in the way the boys’ careers developed compared to the way the girls’ seemed to.”
Initiatives to listen to:
Playlists
The F-list playlist – The F-List for Musicians is a comprehensive database of the best Female and musicians in the UK, led by its president Brix Smith and the board of (female) directors.The organisation also curates their own set of playlist featuring female artists, which are edited by the f-list team.
Sisterhood Collection presented by Flore -“If you want to discover/book talented women, this is the place to go.” POLAAR’s label manager, DJ and producer Flore launched Sisterhood Collection, a monthly playlist to highlight female electronic music producers, available on all platforms.
Podcasts
Why Not Her podcast (in English) – Why Not Her? Podcast is all about amplifying the voices of womxn across the entertainment, arts, creative, political and activism world. The Podcast series is hosted by Linda Coogan Byrne who is a leading figure in Gender & Diversity equality within the music industry. Her Data Reports, that highlight Gender & Racial Disparity within the music industry, have been viewed by over 60 million people worldwide.
Pep talk (in German) – My Ugly Clementine – Sophie, Mira, Kathrin and Nastasja – alternately invite guests from the music world to chat with them about backgrounds, sources of inspiration, work processes, tricks or their path and the hurdles they have overcome.
Reports you can read:
A seat at the table – by Womxn in CTRL (July 2021)
Gender and power relations in culture – by Yohann Floch, Marie Le Sourd, Marta Keil, Asa Richardsdottir, Carolyn Auclair.
About IMPALA
IMPALA was established in April 2000 to represent independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are SMEs. Known as the “independents”, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs. IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector sustainably, return more value to artists, promote diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political as well as financial access and inspire change. IMPALA has its own award schemes to highlight the artistic contribution of independent music and tell the story of the individuals and projects who make the sector exceptional.