Why feminine headliners are nonetheless too large a ‘threat’ for high festivals Glastonbury

Only 17% of headliners on the UK’s high festivals this yr are feminine, Sky News evaluation has discovered.

Women are seen as an excessive amount of of a “risk” for the highest slots due to a notion festivalgoers favor watching males, in addition to the pool of feminine expertise nonetheless being too small, music trade consultants say.

Industry figures additionally referred to as on Glastonbury to do extra to bridge the gender divide.

Across 104 festivals this summer time, solely a fifth (20%) of headline acts are fronted by ladies, in contrast with nearly four-fifths (78%) by males and a couple of% by non-binary folks.

At the most important festivals, with over 30,000 capability, that is even decrease for ladies at one in six (17%).

And should you rely the entire variety of performers on stage throughout headline slots, just one in 10 (11%) are ladies.

According to our analysis, whereas ladies are nonetheless behind males throughout the board, they’re extra standard with followers on YouTube, Google and the radio, than they’re with pageant promoters when reserving headliners.

Meanwhile, the likes of Glastonbury, Isle of Wight Festival and Latitude haven’t got a single female-fronted headliner on their most important levels this yr.

Glastonbury, which is releasing its remaining 2023 tickets, confronted a backlash in March after it revealed the Arctic Monkeys, Guns n Roses and Sir Elton John will headline its well-known Pyramid Stage this yr.

Folk rocker, Cat Stevens, can also be booked for the Sunday afternoon “legends” slot regardless of rumours Blondie was resulting from take it.

Organiser Emily Eavis mentioned the feminine headliner they’d deliberate, broadly rumoured to be Taylor Swift, needed to pull out resulting from a tour conflict.

Women ‘an excessive amount of of a threat’

Eve Horne is a producer, singer-songwriter and founding father of Peak Music UK, which mentors feminine and non-binary artists and producers. She can also be on UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce and is a board member of Moving The Needle, which works to enhance feminine inclusion within the trade.

She says there was hope that the devastating influence of COVID would make trade bosses prioritise inclusion and variety.

“If anything it did a 360 and went backwards,” she tells Sky News.

“Everyone started going for the money again and saying there’s too much risk in putting women as headliners.”

Eve claims promoters repeatedly inform her that festivalgoers of all genders favor watching males carry out greater than ladies.

“It’s about money at the end of the day and we still have old white men gatekeeping the industry,” she provides.

John Rostron, chief government of the Association of Independent Festivals, which represents 105 UK occasions, says the issue stems from there being a smaller pool of feminine artists for promoters to choose from.

“A headline slot might be the pinnacle of an artist’s live career.

“There are loads of obstacles for any artist to get there, however for ladies there are perhaps triple the variety of obstacles, so the expertise pool on the high is smaller.

“We have to wait for them to come up and then be open to booking them.”

The drawback will get worse at bigger festivals the place large acts cost excessive charges and promoters have to fulfill these prices with ticket gross sales – and are additionally accountable to shareholders.

“You can’t say that a male band sells more tickets because they’re men,” he provides. “But you can say that they sell more tickets than another band when that’s been proven to be true.”

YouTubers and radio DJs selecting extra ladies

Sky News checked out YouTube views and radio play to see how standard female-fronted artists are on these platforms. “Female-fronted” refers to acts with a feminine lead performer.

They had been much better represented on each platforms than they had been on the high of pageant billboards.

On YouTube, within the 12 months to the top of March, female-fronted artists made up 35% of complete music views, whereas their male counterparts had been 65%. Non-binary-fronted acts had been at fewer than 1%.

Almost half (24) of the 50 most looked for artists on Google in the identical interval had been additionally feminine.

Both knowledge units counsel followers do need to devour female-fronted artists.

On the radio, they’ve averaged roughly a 3rd (32%) of performs between 2019 and now, with male acts at just below two-thirds (65%) and non-binary at 3%.

So far in 2023, the gender stability has been nearly equal, with feminine and male artists each at 48%, with the rest non-binary.

Six of the highest 10 songs performed on the radio up to now this yr are by feminine solo artists together with Miley Cyrus’s Flowers – the preferred music of 2023 up to now.

Increases in non-binary illustration are largely right down to a small variety of artists, resembling Sam Smith and Olly Alexander.

At festivals there are indicators of progress. Across all levels nearly three in 10 (29%) acts are female-fronted – up by nearly 2% on the five-year common.

But that progress is not mirrored in headline slots.

‘Glastonbury can afford inclusion managers’

By distinction, the Mighty Hoopla, a 25,000-person pageant in south London, has had no male-fronted headliners since 2018.

Olly Alexander headlined in 2018 and is returning this yr.

It provides a “platform to LGBTQ+ performers” and ensures at the very least 50% of performers are feminine and non-binary throughout the entire line-up.

Cassie Leon, who heads-up inclusion for the pageant, says with their viewers, it is “relatively easy” to decide to a various line-up.

“Part of queer culture is trying to uplift women as much as possible,” she provides.

Asked how different festivals ought to enhance feminine illustration, she says extra employees ought to be employed particularly to advertise inclusion.

“It’s everybody’s issue, from the agents to the festivals to the places finding the talent,” she says.

Specifically on Glastonbury, she provides: “If you can afford Elton John, you can afford inclusion managers.”

While Britain’s largest pageant may be much less profit-focused than others, elevating funds for charities and reportedly paying artists a fraction of their normal charges, smaller festivals nonetheless appear to do higher at reserving female-fronted headliners.

Jungle and drum and bass artist Nia Archives is headlining two indie festivals this yr – We Out Here in Dorset and Outlook in Croatia – in addition to enjoying at Glastonbury.

“It’s a hard one for me,” she says “because I know I’m being given those opportunities but also recognise that not everybody has those opportunities.”

Heavy steel and rock amongst worst offenders

Other than the Mighty Hoopla, no pageant in our database has had greater than a 3rd female-fronted headline acts between 2018 and now.

Six have had none in any respect since then – Isle of Wight, Download, Kendal Calling, TRNSMT, Slam Dunk Festival and Bloodstock Open Air.

With half of the worst offenders coming underneath rock and heavy steel, John Rostron, of AIF, which represents Bloodstock Open Air, says issues are “particularly difficult” throughout these genres as there’s a “much smaller talent pool”.

Bloodstock’s pageant director Adam Gregory shares his view.

“There is a shortage of female-fronted bands coming through the ranks,” he says, including that headline slots are booked based on the “strongest available offering”.

John additionally factors to the best way some main festivals enroll artists completely – stopping them from enjoying different occasions.

“Someone playing third at Reading might be perfect to headline one of our smaller festivals, but they can’t. Both organisers and artists have a responsibility to say no to exclusives.”

‘Ethical’ promoters

There are teams making an attempt to make a distinction.

Not Bad For A Girl, a DJ collective based mostly in Manchester and London, fashioned 4 years in the past to “create a platform for female and non-binary DJs” – working their very own occasions, acting at others, and on the radio.

They put on signature pink balaclavas in a bid to “eliminate conventional beauty standards” after members had been denied alternatives on account of their gender.

Founder Martha Bolton says they actively help numerous expertise, for instance by “having two events and using one as a cash cow, so the other can promote an up-and-coming artist”.

She provides that large organisations like Glastonbury have a accountability to set the usual for the trade.

“It needs to be the bigger people taking that jump for the rest of us who can’t afford the risk.”

No accountability

There isn’t any official regulator of the music trade within the UK, so no official technique of accountability with regards to gender variety.

UK Music, which has its personal variety taskforce, acts as a commerce union, and connects smaller associations that signify particular elements of the trade.

Read extra:
Glastonbury: Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses be part of Sir Elton John as headliners
Sir Lenny Henry ‘shocked’ by lack of black folks at UK music festivals

Keychange is an EU-funded variety programme that asks its 600 signatories (41% of that are festivals) to decide to at the very least 50% feminine inclusion. By the top of 2021, 64% of signatories had met the goal.

But neither physique is legally binding.

In an interview with The Guardian in March, Emily Eavis mentioned Lizzo, who will carry out simply earlier than Guns N Roses on the Pyramid Stage, might “totally headline” however the rock band had been already booked.

She reiterated that feminine inclusion is “top of our agenda”, having dedicated to 50:50 illustration in 2020 and secured greater than half feminine and non-binary acts for 2023 up to now.

In its variety assertion the pageant says it’s “working alongside experts in equality and anti-discrimination” on an inside assessment.

“We try our best and we obviously aim for 50:50. Some years, it’s more, some years, it’s less,” Eavis instructed the BBC earlier this yr, including it is “looking like we’ve got two female headliners” for 2024.

But she added that regardless of being the most important pageant within the nation, it’s not simply right down to her to make change.

“We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.”

Sky News has contacted Glastonbury for additional remark.