Educational network launches to tackle gender inequalities in UK music industry

A new network of music industry professionals has been launched to empower young women to join the UK music industry and boost representation across all different niches and seniority levels.   

Launched in time for International Women’s Day 2021 on 8 March, Moving The Needle (MTN) aims to tackle current inequalities, including the statistic that women hold 65 per cent of entry level roles in the industry, but only a third of senior management positions. 

Its vision is to see women of all backgrounds, ethnicities and personality types join all of the various roles available in the industry, ultimately working towards a zero per cent pay gap, women in half of the industry’s senior management roles, and women staying in the industry beyond the age of 45. 

The group highlights the fact that Black women are severely underrepresented in the industry, citing the Women in CTRL’s ‘A Seat at the Table’ report which found that five board seats out of a possible 185 in music industry trade bodies are held by Black women. 

In its educational mission, MTN will run a leadership programme consisting of mentoring and training via workshops, panels and debates run by the group’s board and wider network. 

One of Moving The Needle’s founding board members, Jenni Cochrane, said: ‘It’s about education and opening gateways after uni. Students we meet are blown away by the fact we are women who’ve reached such a senior level in music. That shouldn’t be the case.’

Vick Bain, a member of MTN’s advisory board, said: Nearly half (46%) of our music performance graduates are female, yet just 14 per cent of songwriters and composers are women. Women exit the music industry far too young.’

The founding board consists of Karen Emanuel (CEO of Key Production Group), Silvia Montello (founder and CEO, VoiceBox Consulting; co-founder and director of #remarQabl), Jenni Cochrane (co-founder and CEO of Getahead; founder of Work Inspired), Síofra McComb (director of Positive Subversion), Julie Weir (label head at Music for Nations, Sony Music), and Jen Otter Bickerdike (author and journalist; new course development and support manager at BIMM Institute). 

(top l, clockwise) Silvia Montello, Síofra McComb, Jen Otter Bickerdike, Karen Emanuel, Julie Weir, Jenni Cochrane

When approached by MT for comment on representation within MTN’s founding leadership board, Cochrane said: ‘It's very much about leading by example. We want to make sure that we have a diverse board ourselves and that we're not just a bunch of middle class white women banging the drum. 

‘We're in the process of tweaking our board and looking at our advisory board. Many of them are women of colour and people from different backgrounds. We want to encourage young women to follow in our and their footsteps.’

She added: ‘We are very conscious that if we are going out there and we are signing up to help affect change and help to be part of seeing these stats going up, we have to make sure that we are representative.'

Moving The Needle is also seeking male advocates to work with the network, referencing The 1975’s Matt Healy, who pledged only to play at festivals committed to gender balanced line-ups. 

Cochrane added: ‘We want to be mentors, we want to be educators. When we were all growing up, networks like this didn't exist. Most of us struggled and learnt the hard way. We genuinely want to help and to see the next generation through and see them thrive. 

‘We've all grown up in very tough environments and, dare I say it, very much in a man's world a lot of the time. I've been a director at companies for a lot of my adult life where many times I've been the only female director and sometimes you have to shout to be heard over the men. We want to see that change.’ 

www.MTNnow.com