Want the industry to set requirements for gender balance 

- "When the situation is serious, I think someone has to 'decide something strictly'," says Christine Dancke.

The high-profile DJ, music critic and presenter was the moderator when Gramo, AKKS and Balansekunst invited to the panel discussion "Stop the charade - how to fix gender equality in the music industry" during by:larm in mid-September.  

- "I think it's exciting to take action in terms of finance. For example, we should set requirements for diversity when distributing money. The business world does this, so perhaps record companies, those who manage funding schemes and others with money and power in the music industry should also make demands in order to change their own industry," says Dancke.  

Musician, head of the record company 3 Millimeter and deputy chair of NOPA, Samsaya Sampda Sharma, was also among the panelists. She believes that the various players in the industry must develop standards for how they work with gender balance and diversity.  

 - "I think it's important to see what you deliver on. It's not enough to refer to the UN Sustainable Development Goals because it's so big. We need to be able to break it down and ask: "What kind of organization are we? Who do we answer to? Who are our members? Where do our funds come from?" This is work that everyone needs to do to make it clear to themselves how they are working to make room for other and new voices," says Sharma. ‍

Sparked the debate  

The backdrop for putting gender equality on the festival program is several recent examples of how women are treated unfairly in the music industry. In April this year, it sparked debate when no women were nominated in the "Song of the Year" category at the Spellemann Awards. Shortly afterwards, figures from Vårt Land revealed that women were not promoted on this summer's festival posters. 

Gramo's annual statistics on which artists and songs are played on the radio also confirmed that only two of the 10 most played artists in 2022 were women. At the same time, men received about 80 percent of the royalties. ‍

Must reflect reality 

Both Christine Dancke and Samsaya Sampda Sharma find this highly problematic.  

- It's important that the world is reflected in the music we get. And when so few women are involved in making it, when they are missing from all aspects, it doesn't reflect the world we live in. That's the main problem," says Dancke.  

- "It's about the perspectives we get, the stories we tell," says Sharma. - "It affects how we allow ourselves to be as human beings. "If I sit in a room with people who are just like me, I'm fooling myself. I'm missing out on something. That's why you should have diversity in your music, in everything you do, really. ‍

Room for the whole person 

Sharma says that new and multiple voices stimulate creativity and ultimately make art better.  

- We need to create space for people to be whole in what they do, instead of thinking that they should be colorless, genderless and emotionless. It's a bad culture if you think you have to be a certain way to make music. We must dare to make adjustments and highlight new role models to create space. Then you have to take some steps and say: "Okay, now we see that we're stuck with a lot of this, of one expression. What can we do to turn it around? Have we invited everyone into the room to look at it?" If there's one thing I've experienced in my work, it's that every time we bring in a new voice, a new perspective, we get so inspiredand often see something new!

A vicious spiral 

Among the audience at the panel debate at by:larm was Kim Skarning Andersen, CEO of Gramo. He believes that the gender debate is important for the industry, but that there is no simple solution. 

- "What we're still struggling with, and what we tried to do at by:larm, is to agree on specific measures that will have the desired effect. "One important measure is to talk about it, so that it is brought to the forefront of people's minds, but some systematic changes must also be implemented," he says.  

Gramo's task is to collect royalties from musicians, artists and record companies. In addition, Gramo produces annual statistics on what is played on Norwegian radio. Andersen hopes that this will help to inform the industry about the gender balance at various levels.

- We can clearly see from both Gramo's payments and the music statistics that there is still some way to go to ensure better gender balance. There are still higher payments to men, there are more male artists and producers, and a majority of men hold important positions in our industry.

Served by talking about it

Since Gramo's role is first and foremost a collective management organization, Andersen will be cautious about commenting on specific proposals, such as making gender balance a condition for receiving public grants and funding.

- In that case, it's a political decision and lies outside Gramo's mandate and scope. However, in the film industry, which I have previously worked in, it is more common to set this type of requirement. For example, the Norwegian Film Institute requires 40 percent women in key roles in front of and behind the camera in order to receive grants and funding. Whether it is appropriate and desirable for the music industry to do something similar, I don't know. However, I think the entire industry would benefit from continuing to talk about gender balance and diversity, and taking concrete measures that work," says Andersen. 

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