An International Insight: How the music industry continues to fail female artists

By Abbie Vauls

The recent statistic released by ‘WhyNotHer?’ got me thinking about female representation in the music industry. The movement’s report found that only 3% of the Top 100 Songs on Irish radio in 2023 were by solo/front-woman female Irish artists. The statistics are baffling. You’re telling me that in Ireland, a country whose diversity has blossomed in recent decades, one that has produced international female icons like Sinead O’Connor, could only manage to find that few female artists to whom it could donate a meagre 3% of its airtime? Very hard to believe. It’s evident the inexcusable ignorance of female artists persists in the music industry. But is this lack of female representation just in Ireland? Or how do we compare on an international level? 

Ignorance of female musicians is a tale as old as time, an open secret. A great reflection of representation in the music industry is music festivals – we may start our national music industry comparisons close to home, with the UK being host to some of the most renowned music festivals in the world. Take Glastonbury. It’s 1970 debut didn’t include any female headline acts. In the era of Stevie Nicks, Carole King, Siouxsie Sioux, and countless other female icons, no one considered a female headline act - a great reflection of the lack of appreciation for female artists at the time. In fact, it only took nineteen more years until a female act finally headlined. In that time, we’ve brushed over female UK artists like Madonna, Annie Lennox (of Eurythmics), Chaka Khan, and countless others. Suzanne Vega’s 1989 headline performance at Glastonbury was the first time a female artist held a prominent, central role in music performance - and might I casually slip in, the first time an artist did it in a bulletproof vest (now that’s dedication to one’s craft).

Each year, Glastonbury has since typically had three main headline acts: there has never been a female 2:1 ratio - men have always been in the majority. The UK’s second most internationally renowned festival - Reading Festival - didn’t have a female headliner until 1995 (Björk), and has since only had three female headliners, most recently, Billie Eilish in 2023. So, (drum roll, please) of the 106 headline acts across the 34 Reading festivals since 1989, only 4 have been women, coming in at female representation of 3.7%. I’ll just leave that statistic to linger bitterly in the air here. 

And so, the two main showcases of music - radio airtime and live performances - are clearly are no celebration of music created by women. We’ve now gained an insight into female representation - or rather its lack thereof. But what about when female representation is achieved? There’s no denying the music industry has come on leaps and bounds in showcasing female artists. But I’ve considered the way in which they are represented in comparison to their male counterparts. There’s no better place to start than Hollywood – America, hegemon of the world, titan of the music industry. Lucky enough to be home to one of the world’s most diverse music scenes, it is rather ironic that the diversity in the actual production of this assortment of music is male dominated to the point of hilarity. The US is home to the world’s biggest record labels; Sony, Warner, Universal, etc., however, the people in charge of these producing studios look not dissimilar to one of those private American country clubs where everyone wears plaid: a whopping 96.6% are male, 3.4% are female. The role of the producer is to guide the music-making process, to realise the vision of the artist – how are we supposed to achieve positive female representation, when those in charge of production are almost exclusively male?

A lack of female guidance in the music-making process means creative control is being relinquished by men, who often miss the mark when it comes to the promotion of positive female representation (formerly not understanding its necessity in the industry), or often, and worse so, the representation is misguided to the depiction of female artists that we often see sexualised. I could talk about countless examples; sixteen-year-old Britney Spears under the compulsion of male producers, the unfair critique of Miley Cyrus when she, God forbid, grew out of being the family-friendly character of Hannah Montana, and so on and so forth - but for the sake of symmetry, let’s take the 2023 Reading headliner, Billie Eilish. Not only a young, talented singer, but also song-writer, Billie was hounded by the media – not to discuss her musical talent, but relentlessly asked about her body, fashion choices, and image. Constant badgering about her choice to wear baggy clothes – and always worth remembering she was seventeen. Billie will no doubt go down in history as an icon, for her boldness and refusal to allow herself to be manipulated into an image that didn’t suit her by an industry with no consideration for the female artist themselves – sex sells. 

Let’s round up this little feminist critique with a brief look at female artist’s international recognition. The most prestigious music award is the Grammy. Billie has won a very commendable seven. Beyoncé is the current frontrunner, holding the most Grammy awards, earning an incredible thirty-two across her twenty-six-year career in the music industry. And so, I can hear the men now, “stop complaining then, sure look at all the awards they're winning!” – yes, but they are the exception, and couldn’t be further from the rule. Only 23% of Grammy awards have been won by women, the span of impact of which is limited when we consider the great number won by such a small proportion of female artists. One final example, (and then I’ll take a deep breath…), although music magazines may seem obsolete in our Spotify era, Rolling Stone magazine was one of the most successful publications in the world.

On its relevance, I leave a quote that summarises the main points of this article from journalist Joe Hagan:

“It was a men’s magazine… white men were the focus; women and Black people were secondary thoughts and objects of fascination, rather than subjects in their own right”. 

This article doesn’t even begin to delve into the intersectional discrimination faced by incredible black female artists like Labelle or Tina Turner. The ‘WhyNotHer?’ statistics are an invaluable insight into the patriarchal foundations of the international music industry, of which I am merely showing you the tip of the iceberg. Not all that dissimilar to what you’re being shown by the music industry. 

Edited by Ruby Hegarty