More about: Moving The NeedleremarQabl

Welcome to our column in association with the wonderful Moving The Needle, the brand new charity helping women of all ethnicities and backgrounds to navigate the music industry and develop their careers - tutoring them as they go. In this column, we meet the amazing people on its board!

Every fortnight, Hannah Browne will be meeting women, fielding conversations between them and delivering some white hot advice on how to move the needle that is gender equality within the music industry. 

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“I’ve been riddled with self-doubt throughout my entire career” comments Silvia Montello as herself, Eve Horne and I reflect on overcoming hardship in the creative industry. “I’ve been made redundant three times. The first was in my first job, I was young – two years out of university – and I was still learning how to navigate the whole music industry ‘thing’ alongside office politics and all that kind of bullshit,” she continues. “What I didn’t realise at the time was how much that was going to sow a seed of doubt and undermine my self-confidence for many years; even though it wasn’t personal. It was only the result of the company getting rid of 40% of their head office because they were re-structuring”.

Silvia’s anecdote feels especially poignant in a year where the coronavirus outbreak has put huge pressures on the workforce. While many have suddenly lost their jobs, if not more, as a result of the pandemic, others are struggling to launch their careers in the first instance.

Having worked across a plethora of major corporations and independent start-ups including Our Price Music, Gramophone Publications, Universal, BMG, Kobalt/AWAL, to name a few – Silvia now resides as CEO of VoiceBox Consulting and is the co-founder of label #remarQabl. Speaking about how she’s persevered, she comments on how her adoration for music has guided her through, “it was the stubbornness and persistence in knowing that music is what my life revolves around. I can’t get out of bed in the morning to do a job that doesn’t revolve around music – I never have, and I never will”.

Eve relates to Silvia’s sentiment, especially as a songwriter and artist who started her musical journey at the BRIT School. After being signed to Polydor at the age of 18, Eve went on to join the girl group JUICE, signed to EMI, before continuing her studies in label management and later prioritising engineering and production work. Today, Eve is the founder of PeakMusicUK and leads the “We Are The Unheard” campaign to promote equality for womxn in the music industry. Having recently returned from a 10-year break from the music business, she reflects on the relentless pressures that have surrounded her, “it’s difficult to explain that when you do music, it’s [fundamentally a part of] you, it’s not a choice. Wanting to be in the industry and having envisaged a dream – it’s everything that you are”.

Eve Horne.

Our narrative develops to explore the feeling of Imposter Syndrome, defined as a psychological phenomenon in which individuals doubt their skills, talents or accomplishments and is characterised by a fear of not being ‘good enough’ or undeserving. According to Musician’s Union, it’s understood that imposter syndrome affects 62% of people in the workplace and two-thirds of women at work; with this figure increasing to 87% across creative industries.

“It’s got to be in our creative genes,” says Eve as she correlates the high standards that she has of herself to her fluctuating mental health. Upon her return to music as a solo artist she speaks of drawing comparisons not only to others, but to her previous successes, “It was a problem in itself because when I came back, I was doing it as just me. There was no label, no management, no hotels, clothes, planes being covered for you, and it was difficult to measure myself. I realised that I was standing in my own way. It’s taken until now for me to not fight the things that aren’t supposed to be for me. In the past, I would be emotionally affected and question “why me?”, but now, if the energy isn’t right, I recognise that it’s not supposed to happen. The things that are supposed to happen to you should be fluid”.

Silvia responds, “We need to realise that the journey is not a linear one. Mine has meandered and taken me to different teams and job role gut I’ve trusted that I will eventually be taken to the places that I’m supposed to go. I think you need to be prepared to have that pivot over the years, it’s rare to have one fast-track route to success. Not comparing yourself is one of the biggest pieces of advice, and especially as women”. 

Speaking on allyship, she continues “We shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to other women. We should all be supporting each other and not competing for success. We need to connect because together we’re going to be stronger”. Eve comments “By support each other and linking arms, we’ve got a louder voice to make a bigger impact, but unfortunately, there are women out become quite closed or defensive when they finally get a bit of power, rather than inviting others to join them”. “It’s upsetting because I believe that if you are ‘lucky’ enough to get a position of authority and have the status to influence other people, it should be your duty to bring other women through with you,” agrees Silvia. “If you manage to get a set at the table, you should be wanting to make sure that 50% of those seats are occupied by other women. It’s not enough to just have the one”. Eve laughs, “that’s horrible, who would want to be there alone anyway!”.

Silvia Montello.

In a change of pace, we turn to Little Mix’s win at last month’s Brit Awards, where the trio scooped up the prize for Best British Group. As their win changed the ceremony’s 41-year history, in being the first all-female group to take home the prize, we touch on the degree of naivety and/or hoping for the better, that has allowed the lack of recognition for the group’s predecessors – The Spice Girls, Sugababes, All Saints – to go undetected. “This is where there is a massive issue, we’ve just accepted it along the way, no one has stood up and we’re all to blame for not even noticing it,” comments Eve, “that’s part of the problem, no one noticed it until it was announced – we’ve all been sleeping”.

“It’s been years of conditioning,” she continues, “but by constantly having these conversations – not just with women, we need to have them with men, and men need to have them with other men – it’s going to help change”. Silvia concurs “Men have to regulate the way that other men behave and call out those who play the power game or use inappropriate means to get what they want from the women that are pursuing their careers”. “It’s so much harder,” says Eve, “we need to do it together”. She alludes to women in studio spaces and speaks about the lack of representation across this field, “even though we’ve come so far, there are so many incredible female engineers out there, but where are they in the big roles? Let women come along and do their thing – chat together, learn from each other, it’s about the music”.

Silvia relates in terms of formerly being the only senior woman in meetings. “I was finding it really difficult,” she explains, “[there were times where] I wasn’t being listened to or respected. In the end, I had to do a visualisation where every time I knew that I had to walk into that room, I visualised myself putting on an Iron Man suit and taking a step up to feel as physically big as I could. I had to feel more masculine to be able to have the confidence to feel like I deserved to be there and hold my ground. The tendency can be to shrink, but what you need to do is puff out your chest”. Eve is saddened in her response, “but why do we have to do that? Why should we have to almost become masculine to be in an environment that we’ve relentlessly worked or studied for, and deserve to be in?”

In the introductory Moving The Needle x Gigwise column, Silvia shared the essential advice of ‘don’t be shy to share your successes’, speaking on this, she says “I remembered a lot of times early in my career where I thought that if you put your head down, worked hard and kept delivering results that you would get noticed, which isn’t necessarily the case. Traditionally, women are less inclined to talk about their successes and achievements, versus men who are more comfortable with doing so. People don’t have the time to research those who are quietly working away and delivering results, the loud voices always get heard, so you have to find a way to make your voice a little bit louder, especially when competing with your male peers in particular.” Eve continues “It’s also important to have a tribe of cheerleaders around you. If you’ve got like-minded people who know that you’re genuine and hardworking, they’re going to want to shout about you and support you”. “Especially if you’re not the sort of person who finds it easy to shout about your successes, having those people around you who will do it for you and point the right people in your direction can be really valuable”, concludes Silvia.

Moving The Needle are generating plans and next steps in its mission to generate a gender-balanced UK music industry. To do this, they want to get to know YOU. Please fill in a brief survey that will help MTN achieve its vision! https://www.mtnnow.com/survey.

More about: Moving The NeedleremarQabl