The conversation about gender, identity and equality in music has reached a fever pitch, but for all the talk, we’re still woefully behind on the action.
Last week, Condé Nast acquired Pitchfork, arguably one of the most influential music media companies. Was it because of Pitchfork’s reputation for excellent music criticism or its numerous high-profile writers, or even its vast, diverse readership? Maybe, but mostly it was for a specific, highly coveted prize: millennial males.
The country music industry still thinks women are window dressing or the "tomatoes of our salad," not valid contributors to the business and craft in their own right.
And this past summer, male acts and artists continued to dominate the headliner slots at music festivals around the world, leading to these poster "corrections," which clearly demonstrate just how bad the gender gap is still.
And yet, it’s been a crazy great year for many women-identified musicians, from powerful icons getting global attention for great records (Buffy Sainte-Marie, Björk, Nicki Minaj) to emerging artists crushing it as they make their debuts (Girlpool, Alessia Cara). There’s been a lot of talk about how 2015 is the perfect time — so depressingly truthful — to resurrect an all-women festival. A few weeks ago, Haim proposed bringing back a version of Lilith Fair, and we think that’s a fantastic idea, because if the festivals refuse to diversify and make a concerted effort at being inclusive, then why not take a page from Sarah McLachlan’s playbook and make the music festival we want to see? Nay, we demand to see.
CBC Music is proud to present Dream Fest 2015. Check out the poster below for our dream lineup, highlighting some of the biggest success stories and most celebrated artists of 2015. We’ve also included longtime favourites and incredibly cool up-and-comers who give us so much hope for future generations. And click on the gallery above to find out more about each artist and listen to their music. Think of this as a dream three-day festival that’s for everybody, but that also purposefully and proudly puts women-identified and non-binary people front and centre.
Hang out with me on Twitter: @_AndreaWarner
by Andrea Warner via Electronic RSS
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