Them is plural
Mark Ruffalo
Radio failing female artists, report finds
Four stations did not feature one woman in top 20 played songs over past year
Sorcha Pollak
Most Irish radio stations rarely give airtime to Irish women musicians while some stations never feature home-grown female voices in their top 20 most played songs, new research shows.
The Gender Disparity Report, which investigates the airtime given to Irish female musicians, found more than half of the State’s 28 music playing radio stations feature women in their top played songs only 5 per cent of the time.
The study, conducted by music publicist and consultant Linda Coogan Byrne, shows no female musicians featured in the top 20 artists played by four stations – FM104, LM FM, WLR FM and South East Radio – over the past 12 months.
Just 5 per cent of the top 20 played artists on Today FM, Spin 103.8, Beat 102-103FM, Red FM, Cork C103, Clare FM, Cork 96FM, KCLR FM, KFM, East Coast FM, Radio Kerry, Live 95FM, Midlands radio, Shannonside FM, Spin southwest FM were female, according to the research.
RTÉ Radio 1 was the only radio station which had a 50/50 divide of male and female artists among its top 20 most played songs. Some 30 per cent of the voices among Carlow FM’s top 20 songs were female, the study notes.
Airplay
Ms Coogan Byrne, who worked on the report with musician Áine Tyrrell, conducted the research by downloading data logged by Irish music stations between June 2019 and June 2020 into the Radiomonitor airplay monitoring service. The international radio system can be used to evaluate airtime allocated to artists who have commercial releases and whose music is submitted to radio for airplay.
Focusing on Irish artists, the study found that only one act across all Irish radio stations’ top 20 was from Ireland’s black community.
In most cases, Dermot Kennedy’s Outnumbered was the most played song on the majority of Irish radio stations followed by music from Niall Horan and the Academic. Irish female artists Soulé and Aimée feature a few times in top 20 lists.
Shocking
Ms Coogan Byrne described the findings as a “staggering and shocking display of an industry model that needs drastic change” and said the last time Irish radio supported female acts was during the era of Sinéad O’Connor, the Corrs and the Cranberries.
“Where are our country’s breakthrough female acts of the last decade? Stations tell me they don’t get as many submissions from women. But there’s loads of amazing female singers out there so why don’t get they get the platforms men get?”
Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) chairwoman Eleanor McEvoy said the report was “thoroughly depressing” and the situation appeared to be getting worse rather than better.
“I grew up hearing very few female artists on the radio and it seems incomprehensible to me that we are still in that place today,” said Ms McEvoy. “The unconscious bias towards male musicians, songwriters and performers is staggering. Looking at these figures I’m frustrated at the talent that we’re losing, the songs that will be missed and the voices that we’re never going to hear.”
Tis a shame. He has some great tunes. He did a great cover of Taylor Swifts album that gave me a new found respect for her.
Summer of 69 is a great choon.
7 Likes
He changed the way Noel Gallagher played one of his own songs.
Mansplained her album back to her IIRC
She was doing it wrong
There’s always one …
This one is not particularly surprising
I’ve seen this guy twice, I’m (was) a huge fan. The first time was unbelievable in the NCH. The second time was in Vicar Street and it was really weird. He was acting odd and his music had gotten inexplicably really shit. All very long, stream of consciousness bullshit. I remember in particular the song that the poor victim lady talks about, about wet socks. The whole of Vicar Street was thinking “Oh you are not boring the arse off us singing about your wet socks.” He was also attacking the crowd a bit but I can’t remember what exactly. Then he slagged off how his guitar player was playing guitar. Then at the end he asked the guitar player to do a cover of Whiskey in the Jar and the guitar player told him to fuck off.
In spite of all that it wasn’t that awful of a gig because he’s earlier material was so good. Benji is easily one of the albums of the decade. I also love the Red House Painters. However, I now feel slimy knowing that I sat listening to a song where the lyrics are a pack of lies and where he really sexually assaulted the lady in the song. Now I can’t believe the lyrics to any of his songs. Carissa probably didn’t die when an aerosol can blew up in the trash compactor, she probably died because Kozelek killed her with a flamethrower.
I still throw on the odd Ryan Adams song. I’ll see how I feel about this in a few months time.
yawn,
@Tank was that gig in Vic St a few years ago? I was going to go, but checked out some of his more recent albums, and they’re shit. Ranting over a guitar.
Ghosts of the Great Highway is brilliant though
That was the one yeah. The rot had sunk in by then. Benji as unbelievable then the album after Benji, Universal Themes, had 2 very good songs and the rest of the album was bollocks and then every album after that was all bollocks.
Just read the Pitchfork link. What an odd fucker.
When I saw him live and the way he was going on I immediately thought that hecomes across as someone who has dropped far too much acid. I know a few psychonauts who turned into complete argumentative cunts from too much LSD and he reminds me of them. That’s what I thought before I learned about the rehab at age 14 thing.
That’s Glen Hansard, Ryan Adams and now Sun Kil Moon. I’m fairly giving these lads the kiss of death. Nick Cave will turn out to be a mass-rapist paedophile now, it’s inevitable.
Hozier is the only earnest singer-songwriter I’d trust to not have skeletons