Triple J's Hack has this morning released its fourth annual investigation into representation of women in the Australian music industry, which has found that the gender gap in the local industry is "slowly narrowing".
Today's report written by Ange McCormack, which coincides with International Women's Day, shows that while men still dominate areas such as radio play and earnings, the gender diversity is stronger when compared to Hack's three previous reports.
For the first time since the research was conducted, 50% of the acts featured on the 2018/2019 Falls Festival line-up included at least one female, compared to 31% on the 2017/2018 bill.
Other festivals like Splendour In The Grass, Groovin The Moo and Listen Out also increased the percentage of female artists (or acts with at least one female) on their respective line-ups in 2018.
Meanwhile despite being identified as the biggest gender gap in Hack's report, earnings between men and women have also narrowed. 19% of APRA payments were made to women in 2018. However, in 2018 female songwriters earned 88 cents for every dollar male songwriters did, up from 77 cents in last year's report.
The new report showed there is still some way to go though; in regards to radio play, it was found that just 21% of the top 100 most-played songs on Australian radio stations in 2018 were by solo female acts or all-female groups. In total, 27% of the top 100 most-played songs included at least one woman.
However, in this past January's Hottest 100, 63 tracks featured in the countdown were solo male artists or all-male line-ups, an actual increase on last year's figure of 51 songs.
The study also acknowledged some steps forward for women in music in 2018, including Kasey Chambers' induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame, four female directors being appointed to the ARIA board and the inaugural Australian Women In Music Awards (AWMAs).
AWMAs founding executive director Vicki Gordon described the first ceremony held in Brisbane last October as "surreal".
"The time had come…. I think that it's really important that women are acknowledged for their contribution. And traditionally, women have not been acknowledged for their contribution in the music industry," Gordon told Hack.
"We know that by the stats; we know that there are numerous women working out there and record labels and record companies who are holding up a lot of the men who are in power positions structurally."
Gordon continued, "I think what's really important is to call out what you see as not being representative. But it's also really important, I think, to support those of us who are really active, who are on the front line - who are often working tirelessly [for gender equality]."
Check out the full report here.
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