Blog: women in music

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Meritocracy only works if the door is open in the first place: International Women’s Day in 2025

Hanna Kahlert

11 Mar 2025

Cultural trends

consumers

women in music

Key insights from this blog: This International Women's Day, celebrations of women's accomplishments were overshadowed by industry developments and political decisions Women are consumers too – it is in businesses' best interest to give women access to the rooms where the decisions about events, products, and advertising aimed at them are made MIDiA's findings from the landmark ' BE THE CHANGE ' report further highlight the issues for women in music (that urgently need to be addressed by the industry) This weekend saw the celebration of International Women’s Day.

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The next era of entertainment: AI and social are lowering barriers, but new ones must emerge

Hanna Kahlert

15 Oct 2024

Social

art

Creators

There is an inherent tension between tech-enabled accessibility to creation (good), and the ability for that entertainment to become successful (challenging). Music and other entertainment industries typically have one half of this conversation at a time.

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Gender inequality in music mirrors the challenges of streaming… as do its opportunities for change

Hanna Kahlert

20 Mar 2024

women in music

be the change

Streaming

It has never been easier to become a music artist, but it has never been harder to turn that into a long-term career. A hyper-saturated content environment means record levels of competition and decreasing shares of stable revenues.

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‘What’ it means to be a creator is changing dramatically. Why isn’t the ‘who’?

Tatiana Cirisano

9 Nov 2023

TuneCore

Believe

women in music

The year is 2023: Singers are turning their voices into playable instruments, bands are performing as holograms, entirely virtual artists are hitting the market, and one can spin up a finished song with 20 minutes and an iPhone.

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When will a better future arrive for women in music?

Srishti Das

4 May 2022

women in music

diversity and inclusion

gender diversity

Last year, MIDiA Research, together with TuneCore and Believe, launched BE THE CHANGE: Women making music to highlight the barriers faced by minority creators and executives alike. We have now published the second edition of the study that is free to all and can be found here.

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“Creativity has no genre”: What it takes to make it in music

Hanna Kahlert

8 Mar 2022

women in music

international womens day

music industry

The last few years have brought huge shifts in the music industry, from the rise of streaming to the prominence of readily-available creator tools. They have also brought cultural changes in music and beyond.

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If Web3 is so forward-thinking, why is it so male dominated?

Tatiana Cirisano

28 Feb 2022

diversity

women in music

gender equality

Strike up a five-minute conversation with someone in the Web3 space, and any combination of the words “forward-thinking”, “revolutionary”, and “equitable” is bound to come up. Many proponents of NFTs, DAOs, the metaverse, and other Web3 concepts seek to use decentralisation to dismantle old systems and bring power to the people — and their intentions are, for the most part, good.

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BE THE CHANGE: Measuring the music industry’s inclusivity and diversity issue

Srishti Das

17 Feb 2022

women in music

women making music

Music

Last year, MIDiA Research along with TuneCore and Believe conducted a study BE THE CHANGE: Women making music . The study was based on the experiences of female creators and the hurdles that they face in creating, producing, and getting their music out there.

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The music industry (still) has a culture problem

Hanna Kahlert

10 Feb 2022

Media and Marketing

women in music

be the change

2022 is set to be a year of great change (and consolidation of change) in entertainment and beyond . However, some things, it seems, have stayed the same. Last month, Rolling Stone reported that nine out of the 10 highest-paid musicians in 2021 were men.

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Creator tools will drive the (equal opportunity) future of music

Hanna Kahlert

17 Sep 2021

women in music

creator tools

synth

The last two years under a pandemic have driven more music creators in a DIY direction. Equipment and instrument sales reported record-breaking growth over lockdown – Sweetwater, for example, had its best year ever, breaking over a billion in sales .

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Music is no longer about consumption, but participation (and women are leading the charge)

Hanna Kahlert

27 Jul 2021

women in music

creator tools

Music

The mainstream shift to digital-first life in the last year and a half has affected video content production, games sales, and social media habits. It has also (notably) exacerbated the music industry shift to independent artists and music streaming revenue woes – both of which are now raising existential questions as to the future culture of music.

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When women don’t make music: The sunset of Indian Folk

Hanna Kahlert

29 Mar 2021

women in music

india

indian folk music

MIDiA recently released a study on the experiences of women in the music industry ( free to download here ), discussing both the broad-level challenges they face – but also pointing to the positives, the opportunities, and the methods that are working and can work to build a better industry of the future.

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Women creators: This is also our business

Srishti Das

22 Mar 2021

women creators

women in music

Music

MIDiA, in conjunction with TuneCore and Believe, is about to publish the findings of a global survey on the experiences of 401 female creators in the music industry: artists, songwriters, producers, DJs and creator managers, asking them to tell their own stories as the foundation for greater industry change.

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Women making music: The COVID impact

Hanna Kahlert

8 Mar 2021

Music

women in music

international womens day

The last 12 months have been marked mostly by the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed much of life to the digital world. 70% of independent artists overall spent much of the time over lockdowns creating more music, many taking more autonomy over their own marketing and production.

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