Only two percent of the world's professional music producers are women. The Nordic Songs songwriting camp is open to women only.
/ 28/01/2020 / Kristian DugstadNordic Songs feels just like any other songwriting camp. Except for the fact that there are only female participants. And that's the point: There shouldn't be any difference.
There is no good reason why music production and songwriting should be male-dominated. Yet that is how it is.
– You have to be pretty tough as a girl if you're going to stand out. If they're going to notice you, it's not enough to be as good as the guys, you have to be better, says Kristin Marie Skolem.
Together, she and Vegard Hurum started Nordic Songs less than a year ago. The two classmates from the songwriting and production school Limpi have set out to change the music industry.
Last week they organized Norway's first songwriting camp, just for women.
In an attic in an apartment building on Skippergata, speakers pump out the beginning of a heartbreaking love ballad. Three young women discuss a line of text in the studio on the sofa corner. Behind the laptop in PhatCat Studios sits artist, songwriter and producer Matilda Gressberg.
– I think a lot of girls, myself included, often think that there is a boy who can do this better. During this camp, the pressure is gone, she says.
"I think the entire industry is open to the idea that something needs to happen. It's just a matter of taking the lead and doing it," says Kristin Marie Skolem of Nordic Songs.
Many Northern women and men are well-acquainted with Matilda's music. She has 2,5 million streams of the song Apologize and is known for her interpretation of the Christmas carol Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
She received her first music program when she was 13, but it has taken a long time to learn to trust her own abilities.
– There are probably a lot of female artists who produce music. But it's easy to think that what you make is only good for demos and that a boy has to produce the final version. I thought that for a long time, but it's not like that.
By realizing a songwriting camp for women only, Nordic Songs has already succeeded in something that no one has done in Norway before. The path from idea to reality has been both long and challenging.
– We thought it would be easy, but we were wrong. It was far from easy to find female producers and songwriters. When we started digging into the topic, we found very surprising numbers, Hurum and Skolem say.
In the fall of 2019, they stumbled upon a research report that quantified their experience. Worldwide, 22 percent of all artists, 12 percent of songwriters, and 2 percent of music producers are women.
– Right then and there, we decided to put this on the map by gathering a bunch of great female talent and showing the industry. I think the whole industry is open to the idea that something needs to happen. We just have to take the lead and do it.
The research report "Inclusion in the Recording Studio?" has been published by USC Annenberg and can be read in its entirety here.
The gender imbalance seems to be pervasive in the music industry. It is also very evident in TONO, where almost 80 percent of the members are men. Only about 7000 of TONO's over 34000 members are women.
– We are very puzzled by why making music should be so largely a boy's thing. If we look at visual arts, it is the opposite, where women dominate. As far as we know, there is no research on why the gender balance is so unequal, but regardless, we believe that the industry must highlight good initiatives, highlight female talents and in that way show and inspire younger girls to start writing their own music, says Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO.
Nordic Songs has received clear signals of support from the Norwegian music industry. They have the support of NOPA, Musikkforleggerne, GramArt, Talent Norge, Music Norway, Norsk Tipping and TONO.
Nordic Songs concluded the first Norwegian songwriting camp for women only on Thursday, January 23. They are already well into planning for next year.
– We are aiming sky high. The goal for next year is to bring in the absolute best in the entire industry. We are getting bigger and bigger networks and we have already come into contact with several of the best female players in the world, says Skolem.
In the studio in the attic, Matilda highlights making new and good contacts as one of the most important results of such a camp.
– A lot of good will come out of the camp itself, but also especially in the time after camp. Getting to know these colleagues in the industry will be of great value, says Matilda.
