Women leaders within the popular music industries

Aileen is Senior Lecturer in Music in the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, Ireland.

Her research interests include intersectional approaches (gender, class, race, ethnicity) to the study of music, particularly the traditional, celtic, and popular musics of Ireland and its diaspora; protest song; music festivals and cultural diversity; and urban soundscapes and critical citizenship. Aileen has co-edited 9 books, published over 50 peer-reviewed chapters and articles, and has presented at 90+ seminars and conferences. Her Doctorate in Ethnomusicology is from the University of Chicago, where she was a Century Fellow and Fulbright Scholar.

Aileen teaches Irish music studies, ethnomusicology, and popular music studies. She co-founded/co-directs The Centre for the Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture, which has two associated book series with Rowman & Littlefield International. She was Irish PI on a recently completed, EU-funded project, FestiVersities: European Music Festivals, Public Spaces and Cultural Diversity.

Clare K. Duffin is a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Commercial Music and MA Music degree programmes at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS).

She started her music career as the drummer of Scottish band, Suspire, which seen her performing at music festivals; gaining local and national radio airplay; and with TV appearances in Scotland and Canada. In 2010, she made an appearance (as a drummer) in the David Mackenzie-directed feature film, You Instead. Over the last ten years, she has worked on a wide selection of music projects such as the Gerry Rafferty Songwriting Prize and has spoken at music industry panels including Liverpool Sound City and at the CCA Glasgow in partnership with the Goethe-Institut and Alliance Française.

Since 2016, she has acted as an artist manager for singer-songwriter Carol Laula and for Scottish composer, Paul McGeechan (Friends Again / Love & Money / Starless). Her research has more recently focused on the concept of mothering and freelance music-making in Scotland where she developed 'gender gapping' as conceptual framework as part of her PhD. Recent and forthcoming publications include book chapters for the Cambridge Companion to Women in Music since 1900 (ed. L. Hamer) and the Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies (eds. D. Arditi and R. Nolan).

Veronica Skrimsjö is a popular music studies researcher, lecturer, and writer. Her research is primarily focussed on record collecting and collecting cultures, materiality and aesthetics. One of her main goals is to highlight how diverse and active popular music fandom and consumption is.

She has a clear focus on the listener and reader-response theories, questioning meta-narratives and exploring hidden histories. In 2016 she published the book ‘I, Me, Mine?’: An Initial Consideration of (Popular Music Record) Collecting Aesthetics, Identities & Practices, and is currently working on a new book titled The Vinyl Revival, Gender, and Collecting Aesthetics. She is currently a member of the advisory board for Women in Vinyl, where her main area of support focusses on education outside of the US. Before moving to the UK from Scandinavia she was the chairperson of a feminist helpline, and her work in popular music and academia has further solidified her belief in intersectional feminist perspectives.

Anna Neale-Widdison CISAC (Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Auteurs et Compositeurs) Director of President and Creators, and former lecturer in Music Business and Production at University of Kent. Anna Neale-Widdison has worked in the music industry professionally for over twenty years as an artist, songwriter, composer, musician, engineer and producer.

Anna has toured the world, released three albums and two EP’s independently to critical acclaim, written songs for other artists, radio and TV advertising, and provided vocals for many TV animations, songs and adverts. Her latest album Wide Sky received a 5 star review in national music magazine RnR. (Rock n Reel). Much of her current commercial work has been commissioned by Global Media (Capital, Radio X, Heart, and Classic FM). Her writing credits include Dave Rowntree (Blur), John Wozniak (Marcy’s Playground), Justin Gray (Joss Stone, Avril Lavine, James Bay), Hayley McKay, James Warren (The Korgis), Kevin Brennan MP, Jali Fily Cissokho, the English National Opera and New Noise Audio.

As well as her composing and performing credits Anna is an elected member of the Executive Committee for the Musicians Union, she is also an elected member of The Ivors Academy Senate and is part of the Ivor’s Academy Awards Committee. Recently Anna joined the newly formed ECSA’s (European Composers & Songwriter Alliance) AI & Technology working group. She is also a member of The Brit Awards Voting Academy for The Brits. Before this Anna was elected as the first female Chair of the Writers Committee for the Musicians Union, and was an elected member of The Ivors Academy Songwriter Committee and The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steergroup (EDI) (formally the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors / BASCA).

Linda Coogan Byrne is a Music Industry Consultant with 20+ years of experience in the international and domestic music industry and is CEO of Award-Winning PR & Marketing Company Good Seed PR. She is also an activist and campaigner for gender diversity and equality and is managing director of Culture Change company Why Not Her?.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the contributions of women to music history and culture. Linda is one of the key figures in this movement. Her research on women in the music industry, her advocacy for female musicians’ rights, and her role in creating a more equitable music industry for women has led to significant Culture Change in both the musical landscapes in the UK and Ireland.

Hailed as the woman who has retuned Irish and UK radio airplay towards gender parity, her Gender Disparity Data Reports focusing on the lack of diversity and gender parity across Radio in the UK and Ireland, has become one of the biggest equality movements in the music industry and has garnered over 200 million+ in audience reach, leading the way for the music industry’s #WhyNotHer movement.

Linda was named as one of the Top 100 most influential women in Ireland (in 2021) who are choosing to challenge perceptions to change the world. Linda’s work has been widely praised and featured across notable outlets such as The Guardian, Sunday Times, Clash, BBC, RTE, The Independent and many more. They have been a speaker/lecturer/panellist at Hotpress MixSix, Women’sWork, OutPut, MUTEK Barcelona, Belfast Metropolitan College, Trinity College, IMPALA, Dublin City University, and BBC The Biggest Weekend Festival to name a few.

Linda divides her time working as a Music Consultant/Publicist and Culture Changer/DEI specialist between both of their companies. She has represented well-known acts and bands such as Cyndi Lauper, Suzanne Vega, Amanda Palmer, Counting Crows, Madness, Duran Duran, REM, Eleanor McEvoy, Aoife Scott, The Saw Doctors, Aslan, Groove Armada, Underworld, The Prodigy, Röyksopp and many more over the last 15 years. Including working with brands and companies in both sync and consultancy such as RTE, BBC, IKEA, ITV, AXA, ESPN, Volkswagen, Dominos Pizza, O2, Land Rover, Lexus, and many leading brands worldwide. Linda has also worked with record labels and management companies such as Cooking Vinyl Records, Warner, Universal, V2 Records and Thirty Tigers including many more over the last 2 decades.

Linda’s unique insight into the music industry spans many different angles lending itself to a vast range of experience, and an extensively impressive list of contacts across the entertainment industry both in Ireland, the UK, and overseas.

Linda freelance writes for various press publications in print and online including webzines and magazines and is currently working on their debut book which is a manifesto titled ‘Why Not Her? A Question On Justice’. will be releases in may 2023, after a delay due to her book being hacked and deleted in late 2021.

She has a Podcast Series called the Why Not Her? Podcast in 2021, that focuses on amplifying the voices of womxn across a myriad of industries around the world as well as activists and culture changers.

Linda’s work is important for music scholarship as it highlights the work of women in the music industry and serves as a catalyst for change. Her research and advocacy work for women’s rights has created greater visibility and provided greater opportunities for female musicians. Her contributions demonstrate the crucial role of academia in bringing attention to important issues of gender inequality and advocating for change. Her work has highlighted the importance of feminist theory in the field of musicology and the urgent need for a paradigm shift towards greater diversity and inclusivity in the industry.

Linda is also a board member of the Arts Council Of Ireland. The Arts Council is the national agency for funding, developing and promoting the arts in Ireland. Established in 1951, The Arts Council is there to stimulate public interest in and promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts, the Council is an autonomous body, which is under the aegis of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

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