As with other aspects of society, music and gender equality haven't quite matched up just yet. Regardless of whether the lyrics respect women, genres such as country, rock and hip-hop are dominated by men. Sure, there are headliners like Taylor Swift or Nicki Minaj, but outside of pop, it isn't a fair fight. EDM is working with the same situation unfortunately, but at least one promoter is aware of the issue, and he's looking to fix it.
Gary Richards, the founder of the HARD dance-music festival series (and occasionally performing under the name Destructo), has announced plans to launch what he called a "weekender" that would feature exclusively female performers. He plans on two concerts, preferably next spring in New York City and Los Angeles.
Richards has been active in getting women onto his lineups, such as the Electric Daisy Carnival, but there's only so much he can do to fight popular demand. You can't blame Deadmau5 or Diplo for being popular, but the promoter noted that he's heard some less-than-kosher backlash against an all female lineup.
"People are like, 'It's the new Lilith Fair,'" he said. "I'm like, 'What the f--- are they talking about?'"
What the f--- indeed.
"I don't think it matters if you're male or female, as to how good you are making music or performing as a DJ," he added. "Why not have more women involved and have a spotlight shine on them? I look at my artist page on people who've played HARD, and it's kind of dude-driven. I'd like to balance that out more. It's important to showcase more female talent in this space."
Sounds like common sense to us. Keep up the good fight Gary.
