My guest this week, Sadé Lawson, started her career with the goal of working at Wireless Festival or Notting Hill Carnival. 😅 Now, she's a producer, artist manager of Lil C and formerly FKA twigs, and co-founder of creative agency, Cozy Global, which offers production services, artist management and development, event management and more. 

We talked about so much, including connecting to brands, taking all opportunities, accountability, and the importance of a trusted network. ⠀

Episode Links

Website: https://sadelawson.com/ | https://cozy.global/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadelawson/ | https://www.instagram.com/cozy.global/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sadelawson | https://twitter.com/cozydotglobal

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

To round out Pride month, Maja Liv Groves, founder of artist management and booking agency 'Queers to the Front', joins me to speak candidly of their experiences and treatment in this industry. We discussed being queer in the music industry, creating safe and accessible spaces for marginalised people and how to be a good ally to the LGBTQI+ music community.

Episode Links

Website: https://www.queerstothefront.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queerstothefront/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/qttf_booking | https://twitter.com/maja_qttf

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

In the latest episode I sit down with Mirca Lotz to discuss a wide range of things from some eye-opening stories of sexism, plans for safer spaces for women in music, to preparing funding applications. She is an inspiring person who has done so much work to make gender equality happen within the German music industry! 

Mirca has worked in a variety of positions in the industry, including as a booking agent and event curator with her company fwd:like waves, and as a founding member of Music.BY.Women, the Bavarian chapter of Music Women Germany. Her new organisation, Network The Networks, helps to connect music networks globally to learn from one another.

Episode Links

Website: http://www.fwd-like-waves.de/ | https://network-the-networks.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/network_the_networks/| https://www.instagram.com/sjaelv/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/networkthenetworks | https://www.facebook.com/musicwomenBY

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

In this episode, I am joined by Maxie Gedge and Mia Ternström - project managers at Keychange. Keychange is a movement to bring total gender balance to the music industry. They work with festivals who pledge to 50/50 balanced line-ups, support underrepresented talent in the industry, etc.

We discussed the founding of this incredible movement, how people can get involved, where the industry is heading in terms of gender equality and why a gender balanced industry is essential. It was an inspiring conversation with people who are making amazing things happen!

Episode Links 

Website: keychange.eu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KeychangeEU

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keychangeeu/

And find me online: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

My guest this week is the amazing Alexandra Ampofo! She works as a promoter for Metropolis Music, leads Live Nation's diversity group 'Embrace Nation' and is one of the co-founders of Women Connect! She joined me to teach me more about the job of a promoter, how diverse this space is, her experiences with tokenism, barriers for black women reaching higher positions, and so much more. It was so insightful and necessary for me to learn about the experiences of another young, black woman navigating the music industry. Women Connect is a femxle forward collective creating safer, all-inclusive spaces, and equal opportunities for women, non-binary people and gender-fluid folk working in the creative industries and beyond. 

Episode Links 

Website: https://planetalex.co/ | https://www.womenconnect.co/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/planetalex_ | https://twitter.com/womenconnectuk 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/planetalex | https://www.instagram.com/womenconnectuk/ 

And find me online: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

On this week's episode, Claire O'Neill, joins me to discuss her career of travelling the world accessing and consulting live events for sustainability best practices with her company A Greener Festival. We touch on her jumping straight into this work straight out of university, what us festival goers can do to be as environmentally friendly as we can, and a lot more in between!

Episode Links

Website: https://www.agreenerfestival.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agreenerfest | https://twitter.com/@erialC_Claire22

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agreenerfestival | https://www.instagram.com/claireoneill22

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

This week I'm joined by Strategic Director of the Music Venue Trust, Beverley Whitrick, to learn all about grassroots venues. We discuss everything from how grassroots venues support and help musicians in the early stages of their careers, to the impact of the pandemic and increased threats of venue closures. We also touch on being a woman in a higher position in a company and empowering those coming through.

Music Venue Trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues.

Episode Links

Website: http://musicvenuetrust.com/

#saveourvenues fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/2pt5g8k?utm_campaign=p_cp_url&utm_medium=os&utm_source=customer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/musicvenuetrust | https://twitter.com/musicvenuetrust

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicvenuetrust | https://www.instagram.com/bevwhitrick

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

Welcome back to the latest episode of All the gear, but no idea, with my special guest Naomi Pohl!

Naomi is the deputy general secretary of the Musicians Union, a community of more than 32,000 musicians working to protect our members' rights and campaign for a fairer music industry. She is also the founder of the Union’s ‘Safe Space’, for musicians to share their stories of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the music industry.

We discussed sexual harassment in the music industry, the results of the report the MU recently conducted, and what and where people can go to feel safe. It was a timely interview, as we recorded in the week where the body of Sarah Everard was found in East England, and outrage at the lack of women’s safety was heavy in the media.

Episode Links

Website: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/ | https://musiciansunion.org.uk/safespace

Report: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/legal-money/rights-and-legislation/the-equality-act-2010-and-guidance/sexual-harassment-at-work/report-on-sexual-harassment-in-music-industry

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeAreTheMU | https://twitter.com/NaomiPohl

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearethemu | https://www.instagram.com/naomipohl/

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

We're back again for another episode of All the gear, but no idea, with special guest, Jayne Stynes!

Jayne is the general manager of the Music Managers Forum, the world’s largest professional community of music managers. I learnt a bunch about artist management - from how to get into management, to diversity in the field.

Episode Links

Website: https://themmf.net/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/mmfuk | https://twitter.com/jayneystynes

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mmf_uk | https://www.instagram.com/styneso/

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/

On the premiere episode of All the gear, but no idea, I sat down with special guest Katherine Forbes to get all of the inside tips for successful networking!

Katherine is the founder of Music Biz Besties, a global music network for women, founded in Nashville. We discussed everything networking, taking those first steps in the music industry as a fresh university graduate, being an introvert, and so much more!

Episode Links:

Website: https://musicbizbesties.com/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/musicbizbesties

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicbizbesties

And find me online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllthegearPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allthegear.podcast/