#keychange

Pre-orders for keychains up on my Etsy! :D So excited to share this product with you, its so fun to hold them in person! There are 3 open slots for Pen&Ink Original Commission as well! :) Thanks for your support!

New Alice or Alice goods by Azumaker!

Release Dates:

Acrylic Keychains: 27 July 2018

I dischi fondamentali di Arlo Parks

‘Keychange’ is not the key to change: Thoughts on gender equality in music festivals

Gender inequality in the music industry is something that is being talked about a lot recently. Almost every time that the line-up for a festival is announced, someone will take the poster and edit out all of the male artists, highlighting the fact that female acts are the minority at most festivals. Some festivals are worse than others (I’m looking at you, Reading and Leeds), but it is rare that a major festival is praised for its equality.

In an attempt to push for change, at the end of 2017 PRS Foundation launched Keychange, a campaign that aims to achieve 50:50 gender equality in festival line-ups by 2020. As of writing, over 100 festivals across the world have signed up to the ‘Keychange pledge’. However, all of these are small festivals, not major ones.

I think that this all comes from a good place. The intentions are good. Gender inequality is an issue that needs to be addressed. Something needs to change. However, I believe that programmes such as Keychange are not the answer. There are some major issues that I can see that are involved in laying down definitive goals such as this.

Basically, I think that we need to avoid putting the focus on gender rather than talent. Festivals that sign up to the pledge are now under pressure to make sure that they have equality in their line-ups, and so are other festivals, really, if they are to avoid the negative publicity that follows if they fail to do so. Most festivals will likely be aiming to book more female acts. So are we going to be seeing acts on these line-ups who are not deserving to be there? Are these festivals going to prioritise gender equality over searching for talent?

If I were an up-and-coming female artist in the current climate, and was booked to play a festival, I think that I would feel a lot of self-doubt. We all need validation, and for a new artist, being scouted for a festival should be a confirmation that you are doing something right. But knowing that these festivals are under pressure to book more women, I would worry that I had only been chosen because of my gender, not because of my art.

And of course there is the flip side of things, where it could become more difficult to be a male artist. I don’t think that this is a huge issue, but it is something that should be considered. Yes, there are probably too many ‘four white lads in a band’ kind of groups, but that does not mean that there is anything wrong with them. Raising women up does not mean bringing men down. Just because a band is made up of guys does not mean that they can’t make good music, and that should be the priority.