For a long time, the indie music scene has been almost entirely dominated by men. Although female singers are more common in the pop music charts, the anger and rebellious themes that run through rock and alternative sounding music have caused record labels and producers to believe that women are not suited for these genres. Women are even more unlikely to be instrumentalists or have high-power roles such as managers and producers.
Thankfully, things are beginning to change. When Wolf Alice was awarded the mercury prize in September 2018 for their album, 'Visions of a Life', Theo Ellis (the bass player) made a speech about the rejections they had faced when trying to get signed by a record label. “The f**k, you don’t like a band at all!” said Theo, quoting one man who had refused to offer them a contract. He also mentioned that the company did not want to work with a woman who wore make up because, “it was a bunch of fuss”. It is more likely that the record label wouldn’t sign them because of their image: 3 guys that looked nothing like each other and a woman who wore make up. The record label couldn’t see them as a rock quartet, not because of their music, but because of their appearance. By winning the Mercury Prize, the members of Wolf Alice have shown that bands with female lead singers can make it big and that appearances are not what music should be about.
Women receive a lot of abuse when working as a musician. When The 1975 won “Best British Group” in the 2019 Brit Awards last week, they used their speech to highlight the importance of dealing with misogyny in the music industry. Taking to the stage to accept their award, the band’s Frontman, Matt Healy told the audience to “really, really think about” the powerful message that the music journalist, Laura Snapes, gave in her article for the New York Times: “In music, male misogyny acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of difficult artists, whilst women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don't understand art." Earlier in the show, he also commented that people are often told to “stay in their lane when it comes to public issues” and implored the audience to “not do that".
These changes in attitude among artists and the general public of all genders are allowing more and more female artists to become recognised in the indie music scene. It is also a step forward towards stopping all sorts of gender discrimination in the music industry.
Although more still needs to be done to fight the pressing issue that The 1975 where emphasising in their speech, the activism of certain individuals as well as a gradual change to the attitudes of society have led to many female indie artists rising to the top of the UK charts. In the 90s, bands like The White Stripes, Echo Belly, Placebo and more attracted millions of fans from all over the world to listen to their music despite having women in their line-up.
Now, female and indie rock bands and artists are almost as accepted as each other but not quite as recognised. Whilst some artists like Aroura, Pale Waves, Of Monsters and Men and Wolf Alice are headlining music festivals and climbing high up the charts, there are still many amazing female artists who have failed to gain as much recognition. Some of these include Alexandra Saviour and Marion Hill along with bands like The Greeting Committee and Fazerdaze.
I love the emotion that goes into the indie genre: the anger…the passion…the happiness. However, these are feelings that can be expressed by any gender. There are so many small indie bands and artists out there that are creating amazing music and not getting recognised. I just wish this was because of people’s tastes in music and not purely because of their image. I certainly don’t see why a person’s gender should affect the music that they can and can’t make. I hope that, as time goes on, people’s attitudes continue to change. I am sure, through the efforts of people like The 1975’s Matt Healy, gender discrimination in music (and in general) can become a thing of the past.
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