Music Industry

Reading and Leeds has a major problem at its heart. Why can the festival still not seem to book female headliners?
9Sep By Gabby ThornNo Comments
Music Industry

Reading and Leeds has a major problem at its heart. Why can the festival still not seem to book female headliners?

Following an enforced year off, Reading and Leeds festival have spent a fair few weeks teasing the public about the changes they’ve implemented for their 2021 edition. The main takeaway for fans has been the addition of a second main stage, emulating the likes of Barcelona’s Primavera Festival in having two alternating headliners on each stage for each night of the festival. With credit to the Reading and Leeds organisers, this is a fantastic idea and one not often seen at UK festivals; it has allowed for six headline spots to open up over three days. The festival’s major drawback, however, is that once again there is not a single woman in any of these slots. This sort of problem is not unfamiliar. Year upon year, the same cycle takes place: the lineup is announced, there are no f...
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Spotify: for Artists? Or for the Boardroom?
27Jul By Corey KeepenceNo Comments
Music Industry

Spotify: for Artists? Or for the Boardroom?

  The launch of Spotify in 2008 was largely seen as a beacon of hope for an industry drained mercilessly from a decade battling waves of digital piracy, beginning with the establishment of Napster in 1999. As we approach Spotify's 13th year of service, we look into who has benefitted from this platform, whether the artists themselves have gained from this piracy alternative, and if there is money in streaming?   To contextualise the creation of Spotify and streaming services in general, it is important to understand just how damaging piracy was, and especially how clueless the music industry was in their approach to finding a solution. It is well documented that artists such as Metallica and Dr. Dre sued Napster for the creation of what w...
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An Ode to Glastonbury, From a First-Timer
28Jun By Gabby ThornNo Comments
Music Industry

An Ode to Glastonbury, From a First-Timer

I should be at Glastonbury right now. That’s definitely not the first time you’ve read that sentence this weekend, and it probably won’t be the last. But as I write this, it’s 11pm on the last Saturday of June and I should be dancing in the middle of a field in rural Somerset without a care in the world, at home in what I consider the happiest place on Earth. I was a late Glasto bloomer; my parents certainly weren’t the type to attend festivals (both of them are yet to ever go to festival, and I don’t think we’ve ever been camping as a family), and as a teenager the festival always coincided with the school term. My boyfriend (and In Phase Blog co-conspirator) Corey, much to my dismay, bagged a ticket for the 2017 festival; I was forced to remain at home doing my A-Levels. That ye...
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The Rise and Fall of Dirty Hit
18Jun By Gabby ThornNo Comments
Music Industry

The Rise and Fall of Dirty Hit

  Dirty Hit is a name synonymous with some of the biggest acts of the past five years. An independent record label headed by Jamie Oborne, the label is responsible for the rise of a number of big names in indie - The 1975, Wolf Alice and The Japanese House are just a few of the bigger names on their roster. The label has been lauded for its success, and has built itself massively as a band. However, the label has come under fire recently, and it’s clear that Dirty Hit can’t hide behind its most successful artists for much longer. There are deep-rooted problems behind the Dirty Hit brand, and these problems seem to finally be coming to light.   Until recently, Dirty Hit was the label everyone starting out in music strived to work out. I, personally, would have given any...
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