Women in the Music Industry
This post is sponsored by O2
Before Christmas I headed over to the O2 Academy in Shepherds Bush for a talk on women in the music industry. The ones that are behind the scene and organising the shows, managing the venue, sorting out social media and make sure everything runs smoothly. As a 2000-capacity venue, they host on average 190 shows per year, with some 250,000 people attending events. It’s a hot spot for gigs in the city with a variety of artists. We spoke to a bunch of key players who work at the building to find out more.
As any shameless music junkie would know I’m always interested in the behind the scenes stuff. We chatted some peoples demands on riders, dressing rooms in silk and actually laying down carpet in the dressing rooms. The weirdest one was on person requesting Dwarves, although we all had a feeling it might have been put there to make sure that the rider was actually read! You always hear about all these crazy demands from rockstars but on the whole they are normally pretty tame!
We talked about the pro’s and cons of e-tickets and how more and more actual paper tickets are going out of fashion. Although it might seem very 21st century to have e-tickets on a smart phone they all come with their own sets of problems. I personally love having the memento of a ticket after a gig so always request actual printed ones!
Apparently the Janoskians are one of the rowdiest shows they’ve hosted with people queueing up days before the show even started. They had to hire a bunch of new security just for one gig! Working your way up within the music industry was something that was stressed over and over. With a lot of the women starting from the bottom, interning their way up and then establishing themselves as key players within the industry. The music industry is such a sought after industry to be in but can be one of the most rewarding and engaging things to be involved in.
O2 customers can get access to gig tickets up to 48 hours before general release by texting ‘Priority’ to 2020. Plus an extra perk are the fab O2 Angels. Available at all O2 venues O2 Angels will help you jump queues, visit exclusive bars within the venues and have all your needs tended to.You can also check out O2 Academy TV here for exclusive content.
More posts from Lily Melrose
