girl band blues

it goes without saying that women in basically any industry are often undervalued, doubted, and mistreated. this is no different, (if anything it is particularly brutal) within local music scenes and the music industry as a whole. i simply want to share some of my experiences as a female musician because i don't think every person intends to contribute to the mockery of female musicians. they are simply a product of their culture and they may not truly realize their internal misogyny. of course, many people do intend to be assholes and they do intend to push women down. either way i hope to gift some perspective as frontwoman to a girl band :O 

PS this is my first topic/story on the subject but i am making a series out of this so there is more to come :)

1. compensation is not a guarantee i guess

no, we do not expect to make much. we are lucky when we make enough to cover the gas for the trip. however, i have found that male fronted bands are simply paid more. this is probably because of a number of things but these are a few that i can say from experience:

• they assume women are easy to take advantage of 
• they think our work/time is less valuable 
• they simply dont take women seriously
• they give us shorter set times
• they schedule us as openers (ill talk about this more in another section)

broad statement about the pay gap: many people do not believe in the pay gap because most workplaces have standardized salaries for each position. they believe this discredits the pay gap. people who believe so simply don't understand the pay gap and how it is calculated. the pay gap comes from systemic issues that women face, just like the issues my band faces in these stories. as you can see from my bullet points, it is not as simple as "men are paid more". its covert, and thats why the issue remains. just something to consider.

evil band takeover:

(this experience pretty much sums up those first 4 bullet points!)

last summer, i planned a show. by "planned", i mean that i planned it. i found the venue, contacted them, got some dates, found other bands for the bill, negotiated payment, made the flyers and promotions...it was all me. 

i scheduled two other bands. we keep a group chat. a few days before the show, another band is added to the chat. immediately, i am confused. i specifically scouted the first two bands, and three bands total meant our sets were already short. but this fourth band takes control. they inform everyone that they will in fact be playing, our sets will be even shorter, and that our pay will be going to a random charity.

now dont take this the wrong way. of course i want to give to charity. i do give to charity. we have played and even planned many charity shows before. had they reached out to plan another charity event, we would have been all over it. the problem here was that we cant afford unexpected losses. keep in mind, the venue was 2 hours from our hometown. we were hoping to cover some of the gas and maybe just breakeven. 

plus its valid to note that this band was that breed of rich white kids. the performative activists. and i dont use the term "performative activist" lightly. to me, all that truly matters is if you actually make a change for the better even if its technically for your own benefit. but i would argue that taking compensation away from broke female artists in the name of those in need is not exactly the way to go about that. these kids didnt need to worry about compensation like we did. honestly i couldnt even tell if the charity was real or a scam. they were simply trying to curate a false "punk" and politically involved reputation for themselves. generally, not great reviews when talking authenticity. (not to mention the band quickly fell apart after all of this and none of the members are politically involved anymore. wonder why.)

this band also takes full credit for organizing my event. they created new flyers and flooded my promotions/themes with their own ideas. like, they literally stole the event from me and made it their own. with whose permission? who knows. perhaps it was all the men before them who took credit for a womans work. looking at you, watson and crick.

so, naturally, we're upset. i did not want to give them an inch, so i politely made it known that we were depending on the money and that playing a 20 minute set is not acceptable for a visiting band. (let alone the band that organized everything) i mean, who would drive 4 hours to play a 20  minute set for free?? anyway, with some added pressure, they compromised. my band received most of our payment and our set length did not get altered (mostly). i also made them open the show. not a terrible negotiation, but it is much more about the fact that they thought they could just get away with that behavior.

quick notes:

• more bands = less merch sales (so we also made less money there)
• you have to be a special kind of arrogant and entitled to force yourself into a show
• they screamed, interrupted our set, and cut our last song (despite our "compromise")

on shorter sets - set lengths determine how much exposure an artist gets and how much they will be paid for their time. so we were already going to be paid less. this happens so often to us as an all girl band. our sets seemingly get cut short all the time while everyone else gets their whole set. 

for example, there was a time when we were promised a 45 minute set as an opening band and the following band had 2.5 hours. ratio is already insane for local, equally popular artists but whatever. but then, the sound guy shows up late and he cant get his equipment to work. 45 minutes come and go, he works it out, and the organizers ask if we will settle for a 15 minute set instead while the other band keeps their 2.5 HOURS. i said no.

so what did i take from this? 

they never would have done all of this if we were a male group. this band felt entitled to take over and take credit for an event that we had planned. they felt it would be easy/acceptable to take advantage of and exploit me and my bandmates. they didnt respect our time or value us whatsoever. they used the excuse of philanthropy to undercut female musicians. they expected us to just be doormats and accept zero compensation. as women, we had to handle the situation with grace. we had to politely ask to be PAID for our WORK. at a show WE ORGANIZED. OUT OF TOWN. and if we had demanded the respect we deserved, we would have been blacklisted from the scene. meanwhile, there are known stsipar🔄 in the local male bands. Figures.

anywho this is us at that show cuz NO ONE can bring Gresham down lolol cutiepies