International Women’s Day: Meet the women changing the industry

In honour of International Women’s day 2022, Headliner revisits some recent interviews with talented female professionals working in the world of music and audio, as well as the female artists carving out the way for women who are unafraid to have their voices heard.

It’s no secret that the stats for women working in music and audio are low. Each year after the Grammy Awards, the USC Annenberg Institute releases a study on the representation of gender and race across the music industry.

The most recent study looked at 800 popular songs from 2012 to 2019, and showed that for every female artist, there are 3.6 male artists, and for every female producer, there are 37 male producers.

A total of 56% of 800 popular songs had an all-male songwriting team, while less than 1% had an all-female songwriting team.

Headliner takes a look at some of the women working to tip the balance.

Olga Fitzroy

Recording and mix engineer Olga Fitzroy talks about her role as the executive producer of The MPG and the organisation’s recent efforts to increase diversity. She reflects on her start in the industry at AIR, engineering on Coldplay’s Ghost Stories, assisting Sir George Martin on the last ever Beatles recording for the 2006 album, Love and working on season four of The Crown.

Hannah Peel

Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and broadcaster Hannah Peel talks about composing and recording the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch and winning an MPG Award for Original UK Score Recording of the Year for her work on Channel 5’s psychological thriller, The Deceived.

Jessica Weiss

New Yorker-turned Hollywood composer Jessica Weiss discusses scoring Amazon Prime's new and progressive adaptation of Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello, Pierce Brosnan and Idina Menzel, why it's very important to have an emotional support dog in the studio.

Fiona Cruickshank

Engineer, producer and mixer Fiona Cruickshank talks about her work on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Sex Education 2 and Supernova, and shares some studio secrets.

Ella Henderson

Ella Henderson gets candid about her experiences after The X Factor, explains why she’s not interested in a contrived celebrity persona, and why it's important for her to represent real women.

Leslie Gaston-Bird

Leslie Gaston-Bird, an audio engineer specialising in re-recording, mixing and sound editing reflects on her incredible career so far, which includes being a member of the Recording Academy, the Association of Motion Picture Sound, and being a tenured associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver. Gaston-Bird is also the author of the book Women in Audio, and is currently writing a PhD called Immersive & Inclusive. She explains the key reasons for putting pen to paper for both of these important works.

Linda Perry

Many will know singer-songwriter, musician and producer Linda Perry as the lead singer of 4 Non Blondes, but her artistry goes way beyond that. Since her hits with the band in the ‘90s, she has formed two record labels, and composed and produced songs for some of the biggest female vocalists of the last two decades. Here she discusses the importance of being raw and honest, and reveals how she rescued the production for the band’s biggest hit, What’s Up?

Anna Calvi

The final series of Peaky Blinders is out now; Headliner reflects on its interview with singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, who was tasked with creating an original score for the brutal gangster drama. She reveals how she got in the mindset of unbalanced and murderous main character, Tommy Shelby, and why being an outsider makes her a typical ‘Peaky’ artist.

Susan Rogers

Prince’s legendary recording engineer and winner of the MPG 2021 Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, Susan Rogers, reflects on her incredible career in the industry and the future of music production.

Kathy Sledge

Kathy Sledge, the youngest and founding member of iconic girl group, Sister Sledge, reflects on the group’s early days, clears up rumours about her relationship with her sisters and the suggestive lyrics in He's the Greatest Dancer, and explains why Nile Rodgers had her record the vocals for We Are Family in one take, fed to her line by line. Kathy also reveals what fans can expect from her Sister Sledge show at Indigo at The O2 on May 14 2022.

Suzy Shinn

Suzy Shinn is a trailblazing producer, engineer, songwriter and guitarist. Based in Los Angeles, she has built up a seriously impressive discography since hitting a breakthrough assisting on a Katy Perry session, working with the likes of Tom Morello, Weezer and Fall Out Boy. She even somehow finds the time to tour as a bassist with The Blossom. We talk about how she achieved this 'best of all worlds' career.

Jen Miller

The American music producer, songwriter, and recording artist explains why she founded Girl Gang Music, The Indigo Incubator, and gives an insight into her home studio setup.

NGAIIRE

Papua New Guinea-born artist NGAIIRE delves into the personal journey that inspired her third studio album, 3. The singer-songwriter explains why going back to her roots turned into “a very expensive therapy session”, reveals the deeply personal events that inspired her powerful single, Him, and shares why she’s come to terms with people not ‘getting her’ as an artist.

Julia Wolf

Independent artist Julia Wolf – aka Wolf – explains how she overcame shyness and hustled to become one of the first artists to be featured in Spotify’s Fresh Finds program, culminating in landing a billboard in New York’s Times square. Wolf gets candid about being labelled ‘nitpicky’, why she felt compelled to pen two songs about resting bitch face, and reveals why she does everything regarding her music herself.

Suzi Green

Suzi Green, tour manager for the likes of PJ Harvey, Placebo and Katie Melua, discusses the challenges of life on the road, and her new workshop series looking at mental health, diversity and sustainability in the live music industry.

The F-List 

One year on since its launch, The F-List founder Vick Bain and new president Brix Smith discuss their mission to make the music industry a more diverse place.