A representative body of lyricists, publishers of music, and music composers, The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) collaborates with Dolby Laboratories and Hungama Artist Aloud for the #HERmusic. This collaboration is aimed at promoting the representation of women musicians in India, identifying the anticipated barriers, and also creating a contribution environment for them. All these women of IPRS together will launch a movement on International Women’s Day on 8th March under #HERmusic in the form of three other initiatives #UnleashHERmusic, #EmpowerHERmusic, and #CelebrateHERmusic.
The first initiative #UnleashHERMusic will have a music roundtable on March 8 with various leading women across the music industry including, Natania Lalwani (Indie Pop Musician), Sneha Khanwalkar (Music Director), Sonali Singh (Talent Manager), Anushka Manchanda (Singer, Composer, Music Producer), Anwesha Dutta Gupta (Singer & Composer), Nirmika Singh (Editor, Rolling Stone), M.M. Sreelekha (Singer & Music composer), Hiral Viradia (Sound Engineer), and Soumini Sridhara Paul (Senior Vice President, Hungama Artist Aloud). The second initiative #EmpowerHERmusic will include a talent hunt, knowledge series with Dolby, Hungama Artist Aloud and industry stalwarts, and extensive outreach, Under this initiative, female creators will get to learn the know-how of technologically and creatively enhancing their art forms, in order to expand their creative palette. And, the third initiative #CelebrateHERmusic, the first of its kind in the country, will acclaim ‘HER creation’ in the form of ‘All women music concert’.
Statistics from a study conducted between 2016 to 2018 by international arts, collective FEMWAV revealed the ratio of women composers and producers to male composers and producers in Bollywood was 1:80. While on the Indian indie front (between 2015-2018), the number was 1:71. The numbers are dismal on the management front too with women making up only 10% of artist managers in the industry.
Mr. Rakesh Nigam, CEO of IPRS commented on #HERmusic, “We’re extremely thrilled with the collaboration between IPRS, Dolby Laboratories, and Hungama Artist Aloud. Despite a surge in female voices heard across broad spectrums of industries, we’re still far from seeing enough contribution from female authors and composers in the Music Industry in India. Women have been under-represented for a very long time in areas related to music creation and production. With this initiative, we hope to strike a conversation that snowballs into a much-needed change in the industry and opens up avenues for women in the industry that weren’t accessible before. Through this, we hope to jointly work towards decoding and resolving prevailing issues and encourage creative and talented minds, which in turn will further enrich the cultural heritage of our country.”
Further, Ms. Soumini Sridhara Paul, Senior Vice President, Hungama Artist Aloud added “This initiative aims to create an open forum to discuss the concerns that women have to contend with to find their place in the modern music industry. We’re extremely happy that this collaboration is taking shape; we hope that the music industry bears the fruitful outcome of this necessary change, and we can build a gender-neutral workspace to carry on our legacy. The initiative wishes to serve as a stepping stone to a largely delayed conversation.”
