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Sammy Andrews to launch directory of female and BAME speakers for music industry events

By | Published on Friday 20 January 2017

Let's Be The Change

A new initiative has launched today aiming to encourage and enable more diversity at music industry events and conferences in the UK and around the world.

Called ‘Let’s Be The Change’, the new project has been launched by artist manager and digital expert Sammy Andrews in response to a debate that occurred on Facebook late last year following the publication of an article by AIM’s Marketing & Events Director Lara Baker dealing with the need for more diversity at music business conferences, and the challenges of achieving that.

More diverse speaker line-ups at industry events can help improve the diversity of the industry at large – not least by inspiring the next generation of execs – but also enables a more wide-ranging and therefore more insightful conversation at said events as well.

Andrews has been a regular panellist and speaker at industry events in recent years, but is too often the only woman on the panels she takes part in. Launching Let’s Be The Change, she said: “I’ve worked in the music industry for over fifteen years now in various capacities and things are certainly changing for women in music, but there is still much to be done”.

She went on: “As many of you know, I speak often at our conferences on subjects ranging from tech, marketing and diversity to blockchain and data insights, but sadly I’m often the only woman on a panel, very often the only female keynote speaker, and further to that quite often one of a small percentage of women in attendance at all at some events. This year I want to do my small part to help change that for women in the music industry”.

The idea is pretty simple. The Let’s Be The Change project will compile a directory of women working in music who are up for speaking about the aspects of the business they work in which will then be made available to event organisers and media. The directory will include female music business professionals from every strand of the industry, with different experience levels and skill-sets.

Recognising that gender diversity is not the only issue at music industry events, there will also be a directory for speakers from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds. First-time speakers are also encouraged to come forward, with the offer of mentoring for those doing public speaking for the first time.

The initiative has already been backed by music business organisations like AIM, MMF and the PRS For Music Foundation, employers like Live Nation and The Orchard, and industry events like Fast Forward and The Great Escape. CMU Insights, of course, programmes the core conference programme at TGE, and is one of those industry supporters of the new venture too.

CMU MD and Business Editor Chris Cooke says: “There’s no music business topic where it’s impossible to find a diverse mix of people to join the debate on stage, and doing so will almost certainly deliver the wider range of ideas and insights an ever-evolving industry needs – or at least that’s what we’ve always found”.

He goes on: “Achieving that diversity might involve casting a wider net, having a few more conversations before you start booking your speakers, and asking for specific people from the companies you want to feature. Every event has a deadline and it always arrives sooner than you would like, meaning there isn’t always time for that extra work”.

“That’s not a great excuse, but it can sometimes be the reason behind that panel of old white men. Which is why this project is as brilliant as it is simple – it will make identifying speakers much easier. I look forward to tapping it for information for my events, and will add to it my previously secret list of brilliant women in music who should be on your panel”.

More information about the project is available here.

Let’s Be The Change is one of a number of initiatives to launch this week seeking to enable more diverse music industry events in 2017. Earlier this week AIM used its Women In Music evening to announce the offer of free public speaking training for a group of female music business execs, while CMU Insights and The Great Escape launched its New Speaker Programme. The latter is open to everyone, with the aim of giving time to new voices at this year’s CMU@TGE conferences. Click here for information on that programme.



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