With the current debate about gender equality in the music industry gathering momentum, Brisbane-based global songwriting group I Heart Songwriting Club have recently reported 76 per cent of their Australian membership is female.
When compared to the latest research by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) detailing that only 21 per cent of registered APRA songwriters are female, the result attained by I Heart Songwriting Club is impressive.
Founder and Director of I Heart Songwriting Club, Francesca de Valence believes this substantial increase is due to the welcoming and supportive community they consistently encourage.
“It's really significant because the findings from the APRA studies demonstrate such a low percentage of female songwriters,” Francesca says.
“It doesn’t mean there aren't female songwriters outside of the APRA registered numbers, but these are people who are writing songs regularly. What this means is that there's a different environment that exists in our songwriting club, which might feel different to what is the Australian music scene.
“As a female musician myself, I think it feels really comfortable and safe to be operating with 76 per cent of females in this club, as opposed to going to a gig and there's an all-male festival line-up.”
Francesca says the I Heart Songwriting Club never initially planned for this outcome although their members are pleased with the result.
“It was never on our radar. We wanted to create a safe, encouraging space for songwriters all around the world to feel like they have somewhere that would keep them motivated to write, keep them practicing and keep the community going. That was the only premise of the club," she says.
“We don't market to any one gender. We have not specifically targeted women and we don't specifically target men. We have a club that's inclusive to everyone over 15 years of age.
“Keeping this as a community and resource for all songwriters around the world is still our primary goal. We just want to make it visible that there are other cool things that are happening that are closing the gap in the music industry between genders. We don't want it to be 100% female. Not at all. That's not the goal.”
In late July, the I Heart Songwriting Club will be hosting a variety of live performances, workshops and concerts across Brisbane, mostly free of charge.
“There's a big weekend of events on the 27, 28 and 29 July. There are concerts in the Queen Street Mall featuring three of our artists,” Francesca says.
“On the Saturday, we have a workshop featuring Sam Buckingham. She's one of our foundation members and she's writing a workshop on being a songwriter. [This will include] the practical, creative and spiritual tools to being a songwriter, how to make a living and how to not lose your mind.”
