You've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours if you haven't seen the 2019 TRNSMT lineup. There's been a lot of chatter online, as you can imagine, about the announcement. Is it any good? Are the acts worthwhile? Would you pay the cash for those acts? There was even a tweet about Bebo and a time machine. However the main conversation, and outrage, surrounding the 2019 lineup has been its lack of female representation.
I'm gonna throw a wee bit of heat in this article, so hud on to your hats.
TRNSMT announced their lineup with 3 male headliners; Stormzy, Catfish & the Bottlemen and George Ezra. So far 10 female artists have been confirmed for the 3-day festival including Jess Glynne, Sigrid and Jade Bird. The 10 female performers make up a total of 20% of this year's lineup, yes that's right, 20 goddamn percent.
Speaking to NME festival boss Geoff Ellis said, "We try to have more females on the bill. Jess Glynne is a big artist and she's there. Would I prefer to have more female artists on the bill? Yes. But it's also about developing female artists to make them headliners. We had Sigrid on the King Tut's last year, but we've upgraded her to the main stage."
Hearing Scotland's top music boss talk about female performers like they're a bloody phone contract does not fill me with confidence..
Since its beginnings in 2017 TRNSMT Festival has never once booked a female headliner, which includes 5 whole days last year. 5 days. Not one woman. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I don't know about you, but that just doesn't sit right with me.
The battle to put female musicians on stage is on-going. Many promoters, music blogs and artists realising the importance of giving women a voice and a place in the Scottish music industry. This is not enough though, we need more to be done from higher places of power. How on earth can we expect grassroots movements of female empowerment in the Scottish music industry to succeed if we are continually fighting the big-wigs for a goddamn slot on the stage?
Getting women on the stage is not the only problem, getting women behind the stage is just as tough. Being a woman in the music business? Forget it. With a shocking gender divide of 70% men to 30% women in the music industry worldwide it's no wonder so many women are disheartened. Here's another shocker for you, 899 individuals were nominated for Grammy Awards between 2013 and 2018 - 9.3% of them were female.
That is absolutely shocking patter.
Women in the music industry, both onstage and offstage, are fighting a daily battle to be recognised, rewarded and given a space. We fight for our seat at the table, for our voices to be heard, to get the jobs and gigs we are qualified and good enough for, to be taken seriously for our talent and brains and not how bonnie we are. There is still so much to be done to increase collaboration, creativity and opportunities for women in music but to do this, we need everyone to be making an effort.
TRNSMT are not the only festival to have had continuous male-dominated lineups. I'm sure as we see festival announcements unfold over the next few months we will continue to witness the lack of female representation across the board.
A common argument is that there 'are less females to chose from', well my playlists say differently. There is ample female-led talent out there. We obviously still need to empower from within to create more opportunities for women in music, but to simply say there's not enough women to choose from, well that's just bat shit crazy.
Can we really ignore the lack of female representation in the music industry? Can we honestly expect women to work triple as hard for significantly less recognition and pay? Is it really okay for aspiring female musicians to grow up in a world where they are taught that their place on the stage is to support a man? Do you really want to tell your 10-year-old daughter who plays guitar, until her fingers bleed, that the chances of her ever headlining a festival are non-existent? Absolutely fucking not. Things need to change.
Not all hope is lost. I would like to take the time to highlight the work that @BookMoreWomen and @KeychangeEU are doing to help increase the female and non-binary voice and space in music. There is also a new 2-day conference being held in Glasgow by Queens of Noise to showcase women in Scottish music as well. We are rallying around right now trying to create space for women. There is so much great work being done but if we don't change the behaviour and attitudes of the suits and decision-makers then will we ever see significant progress?
Which female-led act would you have liked to see headline TRNSMT this year? Tweet us on @DiscoveryMusic or myself on @HollieIrvine with your suggestions.
For me? Stevie Nicks would have been a dream..
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