What is Keychange?
Supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, industry partners and funders around the world, the Keychange initiative takes action to empower women and gender-diverse artists and music industry professionals Our award-winning global movement is diversifying and reshaping the music industry to create a more sustainable and stronger community for all genders
Whilst Keychange participates in a wide range of actions in the music industry to achieve its goals, its core activities include the Keychange talent development programme and the Keychange pledge.
What is the Keychange talent development programme?
We support annual cohorts of women and gender-diverse Artists (in all genres) and Innovators (industry professionals) across Europe, Canada and the U.S.. Exceptional participants are hand-picked and empowered each year through an offer that includes showcasing and speaking opportunities, mentoring, training, peer-to-peer network development and more.
What you get, the criteria and the eligibility requirements will vary programme to programme. Sign up to our newsletter and keep an eye on our socials throughout the year for the latest news and information on our open calls.
What is the Keychange pledge?
We invite music organisations to sign our global Keychange Pledge to achieve at least 50% representation of women and gender-diverse individuals in any area of their work. We encourage and support signatories to take an intersectional approach to improving representation, while forging a wider, equitable, safer and inclusive music industry.
How do I sign my festival/organisation up to the Keychange pledge?
Find out more about the pledge and how to take it, here.
Why is Keychange needed?
Representation of women and gender minorities in the music industry remains very low in all European countries. We need to take targeted action for a fairer, safer, equitable industry for all.
Some statistics for you to consider:
Less than 1% - The Jaguar Foundation report found that less than 1% of the top 200 airplay tracks of 12 UK radio stations were made by only women or non-binary musicians in 2020 - 2021.
2.8% - USC Annenberg Initiative’s report by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Inclusion In The Recording Studio? - Examining 1,000 Popular Songs From 2012 to 2022 found that of the songs examined, only 2.8% were created by women producers, only 12.8% of songwriters were women (average across all years), and only 13 out of 1,756 producing credits went to women of colour.
15.6% - EQUALY found that when analysing the lineups of 34 Italian festivals in 2023, 15.6% of solo artists were women (17.65% in 2022), with only 9.36% of bands featuring at least one woman in their group (5% in 2022).
30% - The female:pressure FACTS survey quantified the gender distribution of artists performing at electronic music festivals around the world, and in 2024 revealed that female acts represented 30% of line-ups in 2022–2023, and non-binary artists 3%.
The Keychange Journey so far
Keychange began in 2017 as a European talent development programme for emerging artists and innovators, founded by Vanessa Reed, led by PRS Foundation.
The pledge was proposed by Keychange festival partners who wanted to show they are serious in their commitment to gender equality in addition to offering showcasing opportunities to underrepresented talent.
Since then, festivals from all over the world have signed up to the pledge making Keychange a movement for positive change, and in June 2019, the Keychange pledge expanded to invite all music organisations to sign up.
In 2019 Keychange announced a new phase with new project leads Reeperbahn Festival, funded by Creative Europe. 74 participants will be recruited each year in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
In 2024 we launched Keychange Canada which saw 9 participants from Canada engage in a bespoke talent development programme with European festival partners Reeperbahn Festival, Liverpool Sound City and BIME. Additionally, we announced the Keychange Leaders talent development programme, looking to train and support 40 leaders and future leaders per year for 2 years, with annual open calls planned for Winter 2024/25 and Winter 2025/26.
Isn’t this discriminatory towards men?
Keychange isn’t about taking opportunities away from anyone, it’s about creating new opportunities for people who have been historically held back from participating in the music industry and a fair, equitable and safe way. From our experience, this kind of targeted support is needed to empower a diverse range of people to come forward, boost confidence, create role models, and make long lasting change throughout the industry.
As stated in our latest Keychange Manifesto
“Every other report and conversation around the music industry reiterates the fact that cis-men are in the lead and control access to most fields within the music world. If we want the music industry to become more equitable, cis-men need to engage in the conversations and processes that women and gender-diverse artists are having. Cis-men who are allies need to be more engaged in cross-gender conversations and collaborations and we should all work collaboratively to find solutions for the current struggle.”
What is the Keychange Manifesto?
The Keychange Manifesto is a result of collaborative sessions with artists and innovators on the Keychange talent development programme, offering insights and recommendations and serving as an essential roadmap for the future of the industry.
The latest Manifesto 2.0 was launched at Tallinn Music Week 2024, before its presentation to the European Commission in Brussels. It serves as an invitation to imagine a better future that prioritises both humanity and the planet, providing a guiding framework to a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable industry.
What do you mean by gender-diverse (and other terminology)?
This is a way of acknowledging everyone who is underrepresented in music and might have encountered barriers because of their gender. We do not just include cis women in our campaign for equality, we also welcome applications and encourage our festivals to empower gender-diverse individuals including (but not limited to) agender and non-binary people.
For more information on different the terminology we use can be found here.