As part of a project exploring women working across Aotearoa’s music industry, Keira Kennedy spoke with women working across different fields of music business. What started as understanding women working behind the scenes became much bigger. Keira is currently studying for a Bachelor of Commercial Music degree at Massey University.
Releases. Tours. “Big news coming soon…”
You probably think of the artist behind the work when you hear those words. The side of the industry that may not immediately come to mind is those running things behind the scenes – the business folk – and particularly the female presence.
Some come from business backgrounds, others started by playing in bands just like other Kiwi musicians. But all these Auckland-based wāhine share a love for music and the music industry. Their various careers span record labels, event management, rights and legislation, communications, artist development and industry advocacy.
Let’s meet some of them…
Cath Andersen – CE of NZ Music Commission
Andersen is at the forefront of Aotearoa’s music industry. The powerhouse behind NZMC working towards growing our music community alongside government policies.
Teresa Patterson – Head of Music of NZ On Air
From heading Virgin Records in NZ to artist management for artists like Six60, Scribe, Blindspott, and Julia Deansand, to running festivals, Patterson has done a bit of everything.
Nicky Harrop – MD Collective Distribution, Co-founder of SoundCheck Aotearoa
From a start at BMG record label, Harrop took a lead in developing the Music Industry major at Massey University, and now runs a music distribution company. A true jack of all trades.
Savina Fountain – CEO of BIG FAN
What started as a hobby in high school, putting on all-ages gigs, ended up turning into a career Fountain says she didn’t know even existed – including working with artists like Adele and Prince.
Sarah Owen – Kairangaranga of Ka Korokī Ka Maranga – Māori Music Industry Collective
With her mum and daughter both connected to the industry Owen is passionate about manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and making sure Māori music sits at the centre of Aotearoa’s music industry.
Carmel Bennett – GM of MusicHelps
From a receptionist role at CBS Records, Bennett now manages the non-profit support and counselling charity for musicians and others working in the industry – alongside music festival and venue management roles.
Sarah Illingworth – Communications Specialist of Recorded Music NZ
Having worked in a variety of roles with writing at their core, including a period of her career in New York for communications, this music artist has a role she loves that involves uplifting artists through her storytelling.
When we pull the curtain back, music business isn’t always the glamorous ideal we see in the movies. A lot of the work is emails, phone calls, meetings and… more emails. But across the conversations with all of these women one thing kept coming through: a genuine passion for music and helping others succeed.
Take Carmel Bennett for example. “Look, I have no musical talent. I can’t even tap in time! But music becomes a part of you anyway. After hearing the stuff coming out of Tony and Annette’s offices [at CBS Records], I was going, ‘Oh shit, I want a piece of this.’”
Bennett was originally going to study law, but found herself at the record label with zero prior studies. She wasn’t even aware of music becoming her career until she says “it chose her”.
Throughout my interviews, there was an overarching theme that the music industry isn’t always a direct path. Nicky Harrop was working in the music section of a library when someone referred her for a job interview at BMG. She got the role without even knowing she was applying for it.
Something that is still improving however, is the space for wahine, and the protection of female rights. Almost all of the women I interviewed talked about the fact that sexism and sexual harm within the industry has gotten better over time, but all women still have their own experiences from their careers.
Sarah Owen describes the industry as historically “boys club-y”, while also recognising that women and older artists now have much more agency than they used to. She’s had her own moments of thinking, “If I was a man, it wouldn’t have been as hard,” and talks about how important it is to call out signs of sexism as soon as you see it.
Savina Fountain shares that it took her a lot of convincing to take on the role, and two and a half years of imposter syndrome to feel that she was even worthy of her role as general manager at BIG FAN.
But being a woman in the industry isn’t the only perspective that shapes someone’s experience. For Owen and Patterson being Māori and Polynesian has also influenced the way they navigate the music industry. Owen spoke about how Māori music was historically treated as an afterthought, but that has shifted with Māori voices and identity becoming more central to Aotearoa’s music industry. At the heart of her work is manaakitanga: looking after people, making them feel welcome, supported and uplifted.
“There’s something that Aotearoa has that nobody else has. Our artists, our reo, our stories, our perspective.”
Teresa Patterson shared her experience of being a Polynesian woman in an industry where she often had to prove herself, from being mansplained to having people on overseas tours assume she was an artist’s girlfriend, cousin or sister, rather than their manager. Her advice?
“Don’t wait to be invited to sit at the table. Create your own table.”
These women aren’t just ‘running the roll-outs’, they aren’t just the people who oversee our funding and visibility, and they are certainly a lot more than just a name attached to our email queries. They’re helping build the infrastructure around the people making the music.
I started this project wanting to know what it was like to be a woman working in music. What I found was that there isnt one answer. There isn’t one pathway in, one type of woman, or one version of success. There are people building careers, supporting artists, creating opportunities, challenging the industry, and perhaps most importantly, making room for the people coming next.
