This new report focuses in on The Irish Charts and the Gender Disparity therein.
It was compiled from the weekly Official Irish Singles & Albums Charts compiled by The Official Charts company for IRMA and made available, weekly, from the IRMA website (Irma.ie).
The research was carried out by Cian Sullivan, a member of the Why Not Her team, and a Podcaster and DJ with an lgbtq community radio show on Liffey Sound. (Under the supervision of Linda Coogan Byrne who put the data together in graphs and charts).
The full report can be viewed on presentation here: >>> CLICK HERE.
The report is compiled from the charts dated 07/12/2018 to 06/11/2020 (hereafter referred to as “the last two years”).
Some snapshots of the findings below:
Says Cian of the findings of the report:
“If you consume music in Ireland (buy, stream, download music) it is captured and reflected in the Charts.
Despite the fact that yes, some people (such as record execs, radio programmers, dj’s playlisters, streaming playlist compilers etc.) have more power to rectify the imbalance than the average music consumer, we also (as consumers and music enthusiasts) have the power within ourselves to shift the bias, however unconscious it may be on either end of the spectrum.
We each have our part to share in the blame. I’d like the data to speak for itself and act as a vehicle of change.
Linda Coogan Byrne concludes:
We see here yet again that womxn and acts of diversity are the worse off, as it is this selection of musicians that the Irish charts are seriously lacking in. But it has to be questioned as to how the Charts are collated and curated when some of our biggest and brightest artists are excluded from our own National Charts in Ireland.
We see more International acts, artists and bands dominating the music landscape as opposed to our own domestic acts. Our dismal quota of Irish music across radio is a contributing factor…
Spotify and streaming is a massive contributing factor also… It has without a doubt affected and impacted heavily on how we consume music and how the Charts are compiled.
Very few Irish artists can compete with the International acts. How can we begin to fix this?
We can not let a compromise of a ‘Homegrown Chart’ inclusion be enough as it continues denying our own domestic artists a chance to chart in their own country. To say this is frustrating is an understatement.
WHY NOT HER? 