Falls, Splendour, promoter calls out triple j gender report

Secret Sounds, the promoter behind the Falls and Splendour In The Grass festivals have called out on triple j’s By The Numbers gender diversity in the music industry report.

It was released last Thursday as part of International Women’s Day, and looked at female representation in such sectors as radio airplay, association boards, label leadership and high school and university music classes.

In the festivals section, By The Numbers found the national circuit still dominated by male artists, and none had reached gender parity on their lineups in three years.

It praised Laneway as the most gender-diverse, with female-identifying acts or acts featuring both, constituting 44% of its latest lineup.

However, it stated, Splendour and Falls dropped in female representation in 2017.

Secret Sounds, which put in perspective that it is made up of 64% female employees with 50% in executive positions, says the report’s statistics got it wrong with its two events.

“We love triple j and have worked with them for any years but like all good friends, you have to call them out when you think their rationale is flawed.”

With Falls, it says, the report did not count the entire bill at each show.

Therefore Jen Cloher, Stella Donnelly, Nina Las Vegas, Maddy Jane, San Cisco and WAAX among others, were not factored in.

With Splendour, it failed to count guest artists as AlunaGeorge with Peking Duk, and women who play permanently with male artists like Salliana Campbell with Bernard Fanning or Vika & Linda Bull with Paul Kelly.

Secret Sounds admonished, “Failing to count women in bands because they are not listed on a first lineup announcement poster, or are deemed a touring member or guest vocalist, is in our opinion unacceptable.

“It’s exclusive rather than inclusive.”

Secret Sounds’ full reply is available on their official Facebook page here.

Triple j had already admitted, and adjusted, its festival statistics the day after the report was published, and that it was wrong with Falls and Splendour.

Among findings of By The Numbers were:

* Solo female artists or all-female bands only make up 28% of the Top 100 most played songs by 58 stations which included those on major networks, triple j, Beats1 and Sydney community radio FBi.

* According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 29% of women listed “music professional” as their job in the past three censuses.

* Men are making the decisions at the executive level in the music industry.

* For the third-year running, there were more men than women on public boards for music organisations, managing artists, and managing independent record labels.

There are no women on ARIAs public board.

* Only 33% of independent record labels have women in senior leadership positions.

* In high schools last year, there were more females studying a music-related subject in their final year than male students.

At universities in 2017, the gender split was also almost equal, with women making up 47% of undergraduate music students.

By The Numbers can be read in full at www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/by-the-numbers-2018/9524084.