It disappoints and saddens me how most music genres are mostly men.

[HolyBaikal]

It's not just video games that have gender problems. But really I think pretty much all kinds of entertainment and society.

Almost the only genre of music that seems to have as many female artists as male artists is pop music. And that's kind of sad, because that's just one genre among so many thousands.

Heavy Metal, Punk, Techno, Hip-Hop, and thousands of others. Almost all of these genres are full of mostly guys. And a lot of them are kind of racially segregated, too. I feel like this is because of a lot of unfortunate gender roles and being unwelcoming for a lot of people.

I'd like to see this change. Women should be more encouraged and welcomed in music. And in more than just pop music. I love lots of music, but I really wish there were more women involved. And I know there are a lot, because I often spend time trying to find more.

But I don't think all of the exceptions change the fact that it's not really equal and most musicians are male. There must be a reason for this, and I really really really don't like it.

 

[royalan]

Pop is one of the largest and most commercially lucrative genres out there.

And it's largely dominated by women.

Spoiler

Although behind-the-scenes in another story

.

 

[jdouglas]

It's cuz men play music to get laid

 

[Fari]

Never met a woman who shared my love for power and neoclassical metal.

Their loss, I say.

 

[phillipgessert]

I feel the same about how music is dominated by the super young.

 

[Acorn]

I feel the same about how music is dominated by the super young.

Youth is sexy. Sex sells. It's never changing, 99% of artists are on the conveyor belt until 30s when they are spat back out into normality.

 

[RoyaleDuke]

I love Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and I love women that look like her, I have the biggest crush on Joan Jett.

She's such an amazing woman and a talented rock god.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Yeah . There's a few really good female metal musicians, but there's not enough women in metal.

 

[jb1234]

The classical music world is pretty evenly split.

 

[Regiruler]

Rule 2-84 of power metal:

Women sing. They are not allowed to have any other roles in the band. This is rather unfortunate, as they are the only people in the band who would actually look GOOD with long hair.

I'm not really sure if there is anything you can really do about it. Music is fairly open yet there just isn't a large amount of female interest in the genre.

 

[Fari]

Rule 2-84 of power metal:

There are actually quite a few Japanese power metal bands with multiple female members, as well as some all-female bands.

Fuck, I love that genre. Embarrassing and dorky as all hell, but I can't get enough of it.

 

[Regiruler]

There are actually quite a few Japanese power metal bands with multiple female members, as well as some all-female bands.

Fuck, I love that genre. Embarrassing and dorky as all hell, but I can't get enough of it.

I just love quoting this whenever possible.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Punk's got plenty of great women. They even have an entire sub genre, Riot Grrrl.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl

 

[HolyBaikal]

I don't mean to be too forward, but I would be interested in some serious talk about why this might be, and how it can change.

I tend to agree with a feministic perspective on this, um, I guess the word is disparity.
That things like gender roles and discouragement for women make women less interested and confident in making many kinds of music.

 

[Brakke]

It's cuz men play music to get laid

Lots of women play music to get laid too.

http://www.nerve.com/news/music/nek...plain-about-their-lack-of-groupies-on-twitter

 

[Ryaaan14]

I'd love to see a spreadsheet showing how most successful musicians are actually indeed women.

OP is basically disappointed that women aren't being forced into less popular and less profitable genres, which there are women present, but of course in smaller margins.

 

[Stormhammer]

can it not be because maybe more men take interest in making music in said genres than women? why do you assume it's a reason you really really really don't like?

 

[BlueMagic]

Punk and metal, not too sure. The other ones, maybe (though more indie/alternative music is filled with women).
Also, Jazz has a lot of women. I really don't think it's as seggregated as you think it is.

 

[ISOM]

I will say that Jpop is a lot more diverse than western music. There are a whole bunch of female bands that cross a lot of genres and I like it.

 

[royalan]

Punk and metal, not too sure. The other ones, maybe (and more indie/alternative music is filled with women).
Also, Jazz has a lot of women. I really don't think it's as seggregated as you think it is.

So does Classical, actually.

 

[PAULINK]

I don't really think there are any barriers stopping them, it's just how it is.

I don't care what gender makes the music, I just want to listen to good music.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I don't mean to be too forward, but I would be interested in some serious talk about why this might be, and how it can change.

I tend to agree with a feministic perspective on this, um, I guess the word is disparity.
That things like gender roles and discouragement for women make women less interested and confident in making many kinds of music.

My guess is that it's less socially acceptable for women to show the anger and aggression that metal and some other genres thrive off so they don't pursue those genres.

Though I suppose the culture could also scare some people off but I hope not

 

[HolyBaikal]

Punk's got plenty of great women. They even have an entire sub genre, Riot Grrrl.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl

I think that only highlights how uncommon and unwelcome women are in punk music.

I am definitely aware of many women in lots of genres of music. I've spent a lot of time trying to find more. But trying to find more only makes you notice how it can be hard.

And a lot of the publications in the Riot Grrrl movement are actually about how many women have felt unwelcome in the punk scene.

 

[God Dayumm]

That is because pop is a black hole vacuum that sucks in all female talent and joy even if they start finding success in other genres (see: taylor swift, avril lavigne, shakira, gwen stefani)

 

[Koodo]

lol, women aren't even fully welcome in pop despite the gender ratio. You will notice they have to work ten times as hard as their (white) male counterparts for a chance at equal praise and success.

Ironically, that gross injustice had a silver lining in that most women in pop are outputting vastly better music and performances than their complacent flaccid dick counterparts, and they end up better artists with a greater legacy for it.

 

[Gr1mLock]

I think that only highlights how uncommon and unwelcome women are in punk music.

I am definitely aware of many women in lots of genres of music. I've spent a lot of time trying to find more. But trying to find more only makes you notice how it can be hard.

And a lot of the publications in the Riot Grrrl movement are actually about how many women have felt unwelcome in the punk scene.

Unwelcome? Where do you get your information from?

 

[big ander]

Well yeah it's a problem in entertainment and art in general. There's no logical reason there aren't equally as many film directors, but the film industry makes it exponentially harder for women to advance to positions of power. Same goes for music: it's ludicrously hard for a woman to garner respect equal to that of men in music, particularly in certain genres. Some genres actively exclude women. In my opinion the best ways to make this change gradually are 1) to just be aware and call people out when they're being shitty and misogynist 2) pay attention to female artists who are awesome and deserve attention.

here are some women or bands w/women making excellent music rn, outside of mainstream pop. Mostly in indie and rock arenas:
R.L. Kelly (indie, pop. has a new split album coming out soon)
Pharmakon (industrial noise, new record this year)
TALA (electronic, bass. https://soundcloud.com/talaofficial/the-duchess)
White Lung (garage punk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56EZgZomML8)
Priests (hardcore punk http://priests.bandcamp.com/album/bodies-and-control-and-money-and-power)
Ramona Lisa / Chairlift (experimental electronic pop from Caroline Polachek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdgPcd7wpw)
Angel Olsen (folk, singer-songwriter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PinTAGbIsV4)
Household (post-punk http://household.bandcamp.com/)
All Dogs (punk, pop punk http://alldogs.bandcamp.com/)
Potty Mouth (indie punk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOFMyAMDKx0)
Perfect Pussy (noise rock, punk http://prrfectpussy.bandcamp.com/album/i-have-lost-all-desire-for-feeling)
Joanna Gruesome (shoegaze pop/hardcore punk. http://joannagruesome.bandcamp.com/album/weird-sister-lp)
Speedy Ortiz (indie rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V3hM-YDsOk)
Mozart's Sister (pop, electronic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq9Mxo9B-5o)
Marnie Stern (math or prog or alt rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZDtMTY0I3w)
La Sera (garage pop. formerly Kickball Katy of Vivian girls https://soundcloud.com/hardlyartrecords/la-sera-losing-to-the-dark-1)
Frankie Rose (alt pop https://soundcloud.com/fatpossum/frankie-rose-sorrow also formerly of Vivian Girls)
Savages (post punk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neRGpHLj1EQ)
Alvvays (surf rock/shoegaze pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAn3JdtSrnY)


That's all I have off the top of my head, mainly because a lot of these are some of my favorite artists of the past 5 years. And I'm already thinking of more like Crystal Castles and Waxahatchee and Beach House and Swearin' and Sea Oleena and Tennis and Yohuna and Colleen Green and Infinity Crush. And I didn't even get into pop stars like Lykke Li and Katy B and Jessie Ware and Charli XCX and Sky ferreira and so on. Half the reason I'm posting this is because it's music I love, and the other half is because I genuinely think getting more people to support bands and artists that don't put up with misogyny can really help.

Pop is one of the largest and most commercially lucrative genres out there.

And it's largely dominated by women.

Spoiler

Although behind-the-scenes in another story

.

the OP literally directly addresses this though, and like you spoiler-tagged while there are many female pop singers the level of autonomy the industry allows them is overall not generous at all, and the fields of producers and managers and so on are male-dominated

 

[Servbot24]

I feel the same about how music is dominated by the super young.

Young folk tend to be a bit more excited about music I think and it comes through in their songs. Old dudes just kinda settle into their groove and get boring.

 

[big ander]

lol, women aren't even fully welcome in pop despite the gender ratio. You will notice they have to work ten times as hard as their (white) male counterparts for a chance at equal praise and success.

Ironically, that gross injustice had a silver lining in that most women in pop are outputting vastly better music and performances than their complacent flaccid dick counterparts, and they end up better artists with a greater legacy for it.

heh tru tho

Unwelcome? Where do you get your information from?

from the zines mentioned in the very post you quoted? I mean more commonly in the internet age you see women from great bands having to talk about how sound guys and moshers and crusty ass baby opening bands don't respect them just because they're women. Punk does not welcome women the way it does men. this is like, a fact.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

SubRosa is a great metal band lead by female musicians though and that's cool. They're even right from SLC!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wenNqTd5hU

 

[Intheflorsh]

It's dumb, but there's some good stuff out there if you look.

This feels like a good time to post some Glass Candy-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlJcJT8xOc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RXiEOm-aI8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffRpllFvjVM

 

[Nappuccino]

I've tried to find more female acts to enjoy, but I have a hard time really getting into them for some reason.

The short list is:
Amanda Palmer
Florence and the Machine (mostly their first album)
Kimbra
Dessa
Janelle Monae
Molly Rose (who I've only been able to find one album and a few random live performances on youtube. This Molly Rose: https://myspace.com/mollyroses http://vimeo.com/17666664 )

 

[Servbot24]

Unwelcome? Where do you get your information from?

This is anecdotal, but I frequented punk rock shows for a few years and trust me, the reservation and eye rolls were noticeable whenever a female took the stage.

 

[Data West]

This is anecdotal, but I frequented punk rock shows for a few years and trust me, the reservation and eye rolls were noticeable whenever a female took the stage.

This is anecdotal, but I've found punk shows to be the most welcoming of female bands compared to just about any other venues/shows I've gone to. Nobody's rolling their eyes when they see Brody Dalle.

from the zines mentioned in the very post you quoted? I mean more commonly in the internet age you see women from great bands having to talk about how sound guys and moshers and crusty ass baby opening bands don't respect them just because they're women. Punk does not welcome women the way it does men. this is like, a fact.

No it's not.

 

[big ander]

It's dumb, but there's some good stuff out there if you look.

This feels like a good time to post some Glass Candy-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlJcJT8xOc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RXiEOm-aI8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffRpllFvjVM

Glass Candy are so good. Warm in the Winter live was insane, Ida is uncontrollable

 

[OrlanisWorks]

I would love to find some more female musicians/producers who remain mostly independent and far away from the pop genre.

Gimme some female equivalents to Washed Out, Flying Lotus, Clams Casino, and uh... you know what I'm getting at. I need to do some web searching, due to the fact that I've never actually sought out female artists like these people. :/

 

[big ander]

This is anecdotal, but I've found punk shows to be the most welcoming of female bands compared to just about any other venues/shows I've gone to. Nobody's rolling their eyes when they see Brody Dalle.



No it's not.

On one side I have actual women in punk and rock saying they're disrespected at shows too often, on the other I have you saying "no"

gonna go with the actual women in punk

I would love to find some more female musicians/producers who remain mostly independent and far away from the pop genre.

Gimme some female equivalents to Washed Out, Flying Lotus, Clams Casino, and uh... you know what I'm getting at. I need to do some web searching, due to the fact that I've never actually sought out female artists like these people. :/

TALA that I posted is like that but sadly there aren't many. not that I've found, at least. The electronic producer arena is still intensely male-dominated

 

[Reaganomics]

Expand the genres you listen to!

I'm a pretty big techno buff and some of my favorite groups either incorporate women in their music or are made by women themselves!

Royskopp's album, Junior, used talents including Karin Dreijer (The Knife, Fever Ray), Anneli Drecker and Robyn.

Karin Dreijer herself is a part of the techno genre and although the Knife will be disbanding soon, I hope Fever Ray (her solo act) will continue for years to come!

Zoe Keating is another personal favorite, as I'm a huge fan of the cello and her use of looping tracks makes for a really fun listen.

Ill-Esha has also released an album in June and is on tour now, where she will be playing Denver Colorado. Her airy vocals goes wonderful with some deep bass and techno wah-wah's.

Moving off of the techno genre, there are many women are moving into the music scene outside of pop from Regina Spektor to Ellie Goulding, Lily Allen, Adele, and Laura Marling.

There's tons of women in the music industry outside of pop, duder!

 

[DiscoJer]

I think it's largely a reflection of the audience of the genres. Here's a very fascinating post about gender differences in music

http://musicmachinery.com/2014/02/10/gender-specific-listening/

Genres most skewed to female listeners: Pop Dance Pop Contemporary Hit Radio
Urban Contemporary R&B Hot Adult Contemporary Latin Pop Teen Pop Neo soul
Latin Pop rock Contemporary country

Genres most skewed to male listeners:
Rock Hip Hop House Album Rock Rap Pop Rap Indie Rock Funk Rock Gangster Rap
Electro house Classic rock Nu metal

I think pop is pretty much dominated by female artists, and they are quite numerous in country, too.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

TALA that I posted is like that but sadly there aren't many. not that I've found, at least. The electronic producer arena is still intensely male-dominated

Yes! Thanks. That's good stuff. Went through the thread too fast to see it. She has some really good stuff.

It'll probably be a while for the weather to change.

 

[kirblar]

Touring involves massive amounts of travel, long physical hours, and social isolation. Unless you break out big, there's not a ton of money in it, it's a passion project. Even ignoring social/safety/etc issues- Men and Women do not have equivalent reproductive timetables, and women have to invest time at an earlier age than men do if they want to have kids. That fundamental difference shapes a massive amount about how men/women choose to invest their time in the various career/social buckets.

You can see this in Pro Wreslting., which is similar in some respects- it involves touring, a limited social scene, and grueling physicality Women have much shorter careers than the men, usually under a decade long, as they often bow out before age 30 in order to have kids. This isn't an innately bad thing - it's just how the world is.

 

[HGStormy]

The majority of artists on my Spotify playlists are female artists or bands with a female lead singer. That's just completely anecdotal though.

 

[TEJ]

I always listen to Cher a bit everyday, Utada Hikaru, Madonna, gladys knight aretha franklin dolly parton and diana ross too.

 

[Madness]

That's because it's very hard for women to get into other genres. And even then, other places in the world aren't accepting of it. I remember a story from a year or two ago, there was the first all female rock band in Indian Kashmir which is a Muslim majority region. They literally got the Grand Mufti and head cleric there to put out a fatwa to stop them and as they were doing their concert, some men came on stage and dragged them off.

It's just something that will take a long time to change, if ever. You can't expect everything to eventually have a 50/50 gender split though. I do know quite a few local bands that are all women or women dominated. Plus, we did have a lot of women in rock when it was popular and are once again seeing more exposure from women from classical, to hip hop, trance, classical etc.

 

[Alcotholic]

Men dominating the music industry? Not something I'd really consider. Half the musicians I listen to are women. I dont know... there may be more men, but women are definitely not oppressed like they are in the gaming industry.

 

[akira28]

Men dominating the music industry? Not something I'd really consider. Half the musicians I listen to are women. I dont know... there may be more men, but women are definitely not oppressed like they are in the gaming industry.

They definitely dominate the production and A&R side. In comparison, even the successful female artists are still just sharecroppers.

of course the male artists aren't much better off, but sometimes they move on to the business side and make more than they ever did behind a microphone.

 

[EVOL 100%]

There does seem to be much less female guitar players and probably for a good reason. Go to an average guitar forum and you'll know what I mean

 

[Nappuccino]

There does seem to be much less female guitar players and probably for a good reason. Go to an average guitar forum and you'll know what I mean

There are a few, and growing, number. Kaki King being the first that comes to mind.

But yeah . . . it's not an easy world to infiltrate given how so many young men behave about it.

 

[Randam]

I don't mean to be too forward, but I would be interested in some serious talk about why this might be, and how it can change.

I tend to agree with a feministic perspective on this, um, I guess the word is disparity.
That things like gender roles and discouragement for women make women less interested and confident in making many kinds of music.

Why does it have to change?

 

[krioto]

I dunno, the Japanese culture of music seems to be mainly women - but I'm not an expert on it.