IN THIS PHOTO: The F-List’s Founder, Vick Bain
Before coming to subjects around gender inequality among composers and orchestras, I want to stay specifically with Hannah Peel. The F-List’s Founder Vick Bain discussed with me ways in which The F-List are striving towards change and making incredible female talent more visible for festival bookers. She also reacted to Hannah Peel’s appointment as President and why she is a perfect fit for The F-List. It has been great getting an interesting and passionate insight from someone who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and help highlight incredible women through the music industry:
Hey Vick. Congratulations on all the amazing work The F-List continues to do! Did you think, when you founded it, it would grow into what it has today?
A combination of yes and no. I founded The F-List in the midst of the pandemic when I wasn’t sure what our future would look like at all, but I just knew something special could happen with this idea. And here we are three years later, ploughing on, slowly growing our financial stability and we have helped hundreds of women and gender diverse musicians over the years and that is what I am most proud of.
“Not only is Hannah an incredible music talent. She really cares what the industry is like for other women”
Your new President is the wonderful Hannah Peel. Obviously you admire her music and composition talent, but what was it that about her that made her the perfect choice to become President of The F-List?
Not only is Hannah an incredible music talent. She really cares what the industry is like for other women. Not every artist at that level has the time, or makes the time, to give back when they are at the top of their game, which is such a huge shame. I have been exceptionally humbled by all of our Presidents who have helped us so far. They have all been generous, and Hannah follows on from Anoushka Shankar, Brix Smith and Professor Shirley J. Thompson as a brilliant role model.
What qualities and unique perspectives and skills do you think Hannah will bring to the role?
She works in an exceptionally male-dominated field, which is that of screen (film, tv and games) composing. Our previous Presidents have represented genres spanning across the industry. One of the unique things about The F-List is it is multi-genre, so we have over six thousand musicians and groups listed in the directory from ALL genres. Because I have always been of the belief musicians are musicians and face similar challenges in their careers, so it is great to have someone so high profile from screen composing.
Even though festival bills and radio playlists are slowly moving in the right direction, there is still a way to go. How do you feel when you look at them each year? Do you feel enough is being done to create balance and equality?
It’s a very mixed picture. Some festivals are slaying it, especially a lot of grassroots festivals and definitely the ones we partner with on our Doing The Right Thing network, but certain genres still show a lack of imagination and ambition. Rock is one of these and yet there are many hundreds of women on The F-List who have tagged themselves with ‘rock’ and ‘metal’ (and therefore have expertise in these genres) who could be booked, as well as other organisations such as Loud Women, who put on brilliant live shows. We can act as the talent development pipeline to the bigger rock festivals and onto headlining these stages; there just has to be a drive from the top to make it happen. But we just need to look across the water to Primavera in Spain to see a festival which is doing it exactly right.
“And it just blows my mind they are not all being booked, signed, and snapped up by the industry in greater numbers”
It seems, to me, that women are creating the best and most original music, yet it is not being reflected in opportunities and exposure. Would you agree with that statement?
100% this!!!!! I listen to new music every single day by women and gender diverse musicians who create Listings on our directory and upload their music… incredible and talented musicians. And it just blows my mind they are not all being booked, signed, and snapped up by the industry in greater numbers. I highly recommend to all of your readers: do a search through the directory and listen! So many fabulous musicians.
There are a lot of challenges and areas for improvement throughout the industry when it comes to equality. What are some of the biggest music faces in 2024 and how achievable do you think they are?
We at The F-List have been formally participating in the Misogyny in Music government inquiry this past 18 months, and during the course of my PhD (I am researching women’s careers in music), I’ve heard dozens of women and gender non-conforming people speaking about the blatant sexism, discrimination, and harassment they have experienced during the course of their careers - both in business as well as creative roles. We have a lot of work to do, as a society and within our industry, to ensure women are afforded the same levels of respect, support, and reward as our male-counterparts. Government needs to strengthen equality legislation; music companies need to address their own statistics, and every individual in the industry needs to see what positive changes they can make too. So it’s multi-level and it’s going to be a continuous process over the course of our lifetimes! This is not an easy fix that can be ‘done’ this year I am afraid. But I set up The F-List in a wave of optimism, determination, and belief that together we can make change. So I am hopeful we are on the right track”.
