In Service Of Women in the Music Industry

In this mini-episode, Sage Bava discusses women in music and her involvement in Keychange’s 2025 U.S. cohort, a program driving gender equity across the industry. She also recaps the LA Jump Global Summit—an international conference where artists and leaders collaborate on how to build a more human and empathic music ecosystem. The reality remains: women still make up under 30% of the global music industry workforce, largely due to long-standing systemic issues and widespread unsafety.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, I'm stage and this is in service of a
podcast where we speak to artists and change makers about
how being in service influences their creative work. Today is
a little mini episode. I'm going to talk about something
I'm really passionate about, which is women in music. That's
such a general statement, but there's so much that is

(00:27):
necessary to have a conversation about. And I'm feeling really
inspired because i am a part of the key Change program.
We just had our first official meet at the Jump
Global Summit, a conference surrounding making the music industry more
human and more empathic, and key Change is doing some
groundbreaking work on improving the equability of the music industry.

(00:51):
When you look at many of the artists who shape culture,
it's the ones who are rooted in service, service to community,
to memory, to justice, to healing, to the natural a world,
or to the emotional truth of what it means to
be human that we find their music to be so
resonant and boundary and border crossing. The purpose is the

(01:11):
foundation beneath so much of our favorite music. It's deeper
than the artist, It's deeper than the human. Artists often
call themselves a channel for something larger than themselves. And
this is really fascinating when we zoom out and examine
the music industry itself, the structures don't always reflect those

(01:35):
values that we're creating from within. And a big example
is the inequity of the music industry and kind of
the unsafety that is planted within. Despite extraordinary talent and contribution,
Winder and women and gender expansive artists remain significantly underrepresented

(01:58):
almost every sector in the industry. Women account for a
very small percentage of producers writers. Only about twelve percent
of women are credited songwriters in mainstream charts, and representation
drops even further in technical roles, executive positions, and festival lineups.
And the disparities wide and even more when you look

(02:19):
at intersectional identities, specifically women of color, trans artists, and
non borinary people. These numbers are simply not stats. It's
a reflection of a systemic imbalance that affects opportunity, visibility, safety,
and long term career sustainability. And that's where key Change
is really stepping in and playing a transformative role. It's

(02:44):
a program that is an international movement that is building inclusivity, innovation,
and equability in the music ecosystem as a whole. They
have a global pledge towards fifty to fifty gender representation
and they've helped over six hundred festivals, venues, institutions, and

(03:04):
organizations adopt this. Its partners include Women in Music, The Fader, Spotify, Equal,
and many others that are committed to reflecting a shared
commitment to measurable structural change. And I am super, super
grateful to be a part of this because it feels

(03:24):
like the work is being honored and there is actual
change happening. It's so easy to feel discouraged with these
stats and also just look back on my own experience
as a woman in this industry and the amount of
unsafety and stifling that I have faced, and hearing the

(03:46):
stories of the other cohort and other friends that I
have in the industry. It's remarkable the amount of stories
that we all have to share. And it was such
a beautiful meeting of the Mind's Key Change as the
first meeting for this amazing organization at Jump Global. So

(04:07):
I want to talk a bit about them because I
was really taken with their mindset. There was some incredible
industry leaders that gave inspiring talks, but the focus wasn't
just on industry. It was around kind of the inner
world of both artists and executives in the music industry

(04:28):
and how we can support each other more and be
based in emotional intelligence, purpose boundaries, and well being, and
how that is going to be the way forward. So
experiencing Jump Global through the lens of key Change was

(04:50):
a really meaningful and transformative experience, and I'm really excited
to bring that energy forward. And it's a long time
coming for the music industry to be equitable and safe space.
But there are things happening. There are conversations being had

(05:14):
and new remedies being implemented that feel really tangible, and
I'm really excited to share more a vacuu change as
this goes along and make the music industry better. If
we are in service of these kind of higher than

(05:36):
self beautiful Honorable Plato calls it the forms the most
trust version of something. If we are in service of
those things, then the industry itself has to reflect that.

(05:56):
And I really believe in the power of music to
the world, and I think once we have a structure
that amplifies and allows that more and more, the art
itself will just become more powerful to change the whole
world and all of the many systems that need changing