The seedy side of the Music Industry
Ex-Townsville musician opens up about seedy side of industry. Former Townsville muso Jade Holland has opened up about her struggles as a young musician where she felt pressured to have sex with venue managers, or not get booked to play their venue again. Townsville Bulletin 10 May 2022
Imagine waking up to find this headline? If that was me, I could only imagine the self loathing and shame that I would dive into in response.
“Will I ever gig again?”
“Will I lose work opportunities as a result of this interview?”
“Will talking about this experience impact my career?”
Aarrggh I can hear my head going into over drive now!!
This artist has already suffered at the hands of an unscrupulous venue manager. And now, by going public with her story, in the hope that other young musicians learn from her story, she will be feeling all those shame wounds all over again.
First off. Jade, if you are reading this, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are not responsible for the actions of that hotel manager. Full stop.
Secondly. You are courageous and brave to be able to even talk about it in an interview taking your story to the public sphere. You have inspired so many music artists as a result.
Thirdly. You have demonstrated a distinctly high level of self-actualisation by promoting the healthy daily practice of Self Care as part of your ongoing Wellness strategy to manage these types of experiences as part of your job as a Live Music Artist.
Fourthly. As ambassador for the Mental Awareness Foundation in Queensland, you are highlighting the very real challenges that so many people experience in their Mental Health. Reading this article just may save someone’s life!
Finally and by no means the least. You are not alone.
How many other artists out there — male or female — can tell similar stories? Music artists, working night after night, week after week, year after year, are vulnerable and often in potentially dangerous situations.
I recently made a submission to the Independent Review into Sexual Harm, Sexual Harassment and Systemic Discrimination in the National Music Industry. Upon my submission, the documentation says “By contributing to the review, your voice, which may have been silenced in the past, will be elevated.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or throw up.
As Jade has indicated in her story, we still encounter situations where music artists suffer sexual harrassment in their workplace. It is implemented in a variety of subtle behaviours, mostly executed in the most insidious non overt ways. When the artists politely decline, these perpetrators, will take action to save face in a variety of ways with one goal in mind — the artist losing income.
Because I am in a position of overview, I have the data and the history to join the dots over the past three decades. It’s not a pretty picture. The reality is that disempowered humans will always find ways to discriminate and bully in business environments until, of course, they are either confronted or they are somehow able to self-actualise into different strategies to manage their own emotional triggers. Legislation may reduce the visibility, but it won’t eradicate this behaviour in humans.
As an Artist myself, I endured years of sexual harassment from either the venue manager, the duty manager, bar staff, security guys and punters. In those days, that type of thing was viewed as par for the course. My band mates would say,” Just be careful how you say no. We don’t want to lose the gig because of you.” Needless to say, I had to get creative, think outside the box and develop strategies to mitigate and manage.
Fast forward to 2022, and we are still bloody here.
The cold hard facts are that when one industry is dependent on another industry to take the risk, promote and financially support it, an imbalance in power emerges. It must be said that, in my experience, with the clients that we work with, the vast majority of venue managers and promoters conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism. But it just takes one bad apple……………
Jade is bravely standing up and owning her story. She has the courage to say “This happened to me …………….but it didn’t stop me.” Her fearlessness must be celebrated for it is symptomatic of an industry eager to level up.
Support Act have curated a resource page for Sexual Assault. Q Music have implemented a program called CONCERT CARE. Both are steps in the right direction to tackle this type of experience for Live Music artists.
To those of you out there in the music industry field, who have experienced this level of sexual harassment in your workplace, kudos to you for not quitting. Bravo to you for continuing to share your story on stage and in the studio in spite of this type of behaviour. As a testament to your strength, power and relevance as an artist, you have courageously side stepped the misguided actions of one weak individual and not allowed it to impact your career.
Whoever you are out there, we encourage you to share your stories. Sing about it. Write about it. Post about it. Express it and share it with the world however and whenever and wherever you can. Get it out. Release it into the wild. You have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to celebrate.
As for the seedy side of the industry, how about we plant those seeds and grow something beautiful.
#womenwithsomethingtosay #womeninmusic #metoo #itstime #musicmeansbusiness
Nichola Burton is the CEO for The Pushworth Group, the Creative Director for The Manick Label, Designer UX for Aquarius™ The Integrated Solution For The Music Industry, Music Business Coach for Music Means Business.
Nichola Burton Copyright 2022
