Women Wanted: Abbey Road Studios Tackle Industry Imbalance

LONDON (Reuters) – Abbey Road Studios is opening its doors to women, hoping to inspire future generations of artists, producers and engineers with a week-long workshop festival.

Famous London recording studios have launched their “Equalise” program on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2020. This year’s edition is live, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with courses on technical know-how, interactions with other music creators and industry advice. leaders virtually.

“Five percent of music producers and engineers are women, which is appallingly low,” Isabel Garvey, general manager of Abbey Road Studios, told Reuters in Studio Three in the room, where “The Dark Side of Pink Floyd’s the Moon and Amy Winehouse’s finale tracks were recorded.

“This program we’re running shines a light on all of these behind-the-scenes characters and helps young women understand the opportunities.”

The program, which started on March 1 and continues until International Women’s Day on March 8, features live masterclasses with female figures in the music industry and panel discussions with emerging talent.

“It’s really important to have women who are producing so that young women can aspire to be and see that you can be successful and do well in this side of the industry,” said Miss Brown, Music Producer. , DJ and radio host from London.

Garvey, 45, has been the head of the world’s oldest recording studio since 2014. After what she describes as a “deep and dark history of finance”, she has carved out a career in music, reaching managerial positions in major record companies.

“My entry into the music industry was quite fortuitous in that it was a pretty haphazard start in the industry,” she said.

“I joined… when digital represented 1 or 2% of business… Today we are more than 65% digital… Experiencing this transition was very interesting. It sort of created new roles with no preconception of who should be in those roles. “

The “Equalise” program also offers individual mentoring sessions.

“It’s never happened in my career to have a team of women only in the venue: artists, producers, musicians, songwriters,” Marta Di Nozzi, a senior runner at Abbey Road Studios, said of a festival session on the creation of new music. .

“It was awesome and definitely something I would love to do again.”