Live Nation Entertainment has established an early-stage investment fund to help launch female-led live music businesses, the Women Nation Fund.
The fund aims to help underrepresented female entrepreneurs in the global concert promotions, events and festival spaces.
Successful applicants will be given access to Live Nation’s capital and resources, including strategic advisory, industry contacts and mentorship.
Entrant businesses must be female-founded and oriented around concert promotion, festivals or live venue management.
The move comes swiftly after Live Nation published its gender pay gap statistics in the UK, which revealed an average gender pay gap of 46% at the company in favour of men.
In the top-earning quartile of Live Nation’s UK business, 59% of employees are male and 41% are female.
When it comes to bonuses, female executives are paid 88% less on average than their male counterparts.
For comparison, the average gender pay gap across all three major labels in the UK is 33.8%.
The Women Nation evaluating team is comprised of Live Nation female executives including Anna Sjolund (Co-Managing Director/Head Promoter, Live Nation Sweden), Amy Corbin (Promoter, C3), Virginia Davis (Founder, G Major Management) and Amy Howe (COO, Ticketmaster).
The team also includes Lesley Olenik (VP, Touring), Maura Gibson (President, Front Gate Tickets), Kelly Chappel (VP, Touring) and Carrie Davis (Chief Communications Officer).
“As the leader in live entertainment, we want to meaningfully address this issue, change the dynamic and widen the playing field.”
michael rapino, live nation
Live Nation’s President and CEO, Michael Rapino said: “As the leader in live entertainment, we want to meaningfully address this issue, change the dynamic and widen the playing field.
“The Women Nation Fund is a first step towards empowering new entrepreneurs and creating more opportunity for women in this sector of the live music business.”
Dr. Stacy Smith, the Founder and Director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, added: “Women are underrepresented across the entertainment ecosystem, but we see this particularly in the music industry.
“One crucial way to kick-start the effort towards gender parity is to fund female entrepreneurs.
“I applaud Live Nation for their leadership and for committing its resources in a way that can affect real change.”
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