Every stride toward equal representation is a step worth celebrating, however small. Within the music industry, in particular, there’s a big reason things are shifting in the fight for gender equality: Women aren’t the only ones waging battle. Men, too, are stepping up to the plate as allies and making strides in tandem to lift up more diverse points of view. Case in point? This year’s lineup of Lollapalooza artists and industry leaders, who grabbed the mic and took a seat on our pink velvet sofa in the Citi®️ | Refinery29 Studio to give their two feminist cents, in support of our partnership to tackle gender inequality in music.
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“Just because something has always been done a certain way, is not a good reason to keep doing it that way,” says Ryan Met of AJR. “We don’t know all of the amazing art we’re missing. You want to hear from as many perspectives as possible, and all of the best art comes from different groups of people.”
The value of diverse perspectives is obvious: The more people seated at the table, the better the dinner conversation. The same can be said for an album, tour artwork, or a festival lineup — get more women to the front, and you’ll get better results. After all, according to Andrew Fedyk of Loud Luxury: “Otherwise you’re missing a very valuable set of experiences — of literally half the world.”
Practically speaking, striving for a larger variety of perspectives means always being on the lookout for ways to highlight them, especially when you're staffing a crew or selecting collaborators in the studio.
“I'm always looking to have more females in my crew and in my band and seeing what I can do in that respect,” says musician Jade Bird. “I think it’s important that we all have a voice.”
Ready for more? Watch the video above to hear it straight from artists and industry leaders at the Citi®️ | Refinery29 Studio at Lollapalooza 2019.