How MusicNT is creating opportunities for women to enter the music industry
The Northern Territory’s peak music association MusicNT is taking the opportunity on International Women’s Day to acknowledge the significant contributions made by women in music, despite the odds stacked against them.
It points out how, according to triple j’s Hack website, women remain underrepresented across the Australian music industry.
In 2017, while almost half (47%) of undergraduate students were women, only 29% cited ‘music professional’ as their job.
In the same year, only 16.6% of royalty payments made by APRA AMCOS were to female artists.
MusicNT’s Central Australian manager Liz Archer said equal opportunities within the music industry are clearly still lacking, something MusicNT has a strong commitment to highlighting and addressing.
However, it is also clear that women throughout the NT are keen to pursue a career in the music industry.
“We have an amazing community of women and non-binary identified musicians and industry professionals across the NT.
“The IWD concert curated by Xavia Nou to be held in Alice Springs this (Friday) evening at National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame is set to be another awesome celebration featuring artists from diverse cultural, musical and performance backgrounds.
“We have three emerging Aboriginal women singer/songwriters – JessiK, Patsy Coleman and Casii Williams freshly returned from performing at Nannup Festival in WA, along with Ripple Effect, the all women’s band from Maningrida.
“And we have younger performers like Stevie Jean bringing new energy and raw power to inspire the generations to come.”
Now in its 10th year, MusicNTs trailblazing Indigenous Women’s Music Program was started by local women including Milyika Scales, Catherine Satour and Jacinta Price as a direct response to the severe underrepresentation of First Nations women in music.
Archer said the program has visited over 30 communities across the NT and tristate region and reached out to hundreds of women and girls hungry to create and perform music.
“Reference Group member and former Territorian of the Year Shellie Morris was one of the very few Indigenous women/non-binary performers 15 years ago.
“The list has grown significantly since then and MusicNT remains committed to supporting marginalised groups and individuals wherever we can.”
“When we look at other careers in the industry such as sound engineers, producers and managers, the gap widens again significantly,” she said.
Putting intentions into practice, MusicNT offers free workshops for women, with a series on sound engineering scheduled for later this year, and a Professional Development workshop on March 18 in partnership with APRA AMCOS.
The organisation is also formalising their women in music strategy, with a view to launching it as part of IWD 2020.