All the gear, but no idea

My guest this week, Sadé Lawson, started her career with the goal of working at Wireless Festival or Notting Hill Carnival. 😅 Now, she's a producer, artist manager of Lil C and formerly FKA twigs, and co-founder of creative agency, Cozy Global, which offers production services, artist management and development, event management and more. 

We talked about so much, including connecting to brands, taking all opportunities, accountability, and the importance of a trusted network. ⠀

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To round out Pride month, Maja Liv Groves, founder of artist management and booking agency 'Queers to the Front', joins me to speak candidly of their experiences and treatment in this industry. We discussed being queer in the music industry, creating safe and accessible spaces for marginalised people and how to be a good ally to the LGBTQI+ music community.

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In the latest episode I sit down with Mirca Lotz to discuss a wide range of things from some eye-opening stories of sexism, plans for safer spaces for women in music, to preparing funding applications. She is an inspiring person who has done so much work to make gender equality happen within the German music industry! 

Mirca has worked in a variety of positions in the industry, including as a booking agent and event curator with her company fwd:like waves, and as a founding member of Music.BY.Women, the Bavarian chapter of Music Women Germany. Her new organisation, Network The Networks, helps to connect music networks globally to learn from one another.

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In this episode, I am joined by Maxie Gedge and Mia Ternström - project managers at Keychange. Keychange is a movement to bring total gender balance to the music industry. They work with festivals who pledge to 50/50 balanced line-ups, support underrepresented talent in the industry, etc.

We discussed the founding of this incredible movement, how people can get involved, where the industry is heading in terms of gender equality and why a gender balanced industry is essential. It was an inspiring conversation with people who are making amazing things happen!

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On this week's episode, Claire O'Neill, joins me to discuss her career of travelling the world accessing and consulting live events for sustainability best practices with her company A Greener Festival. We touch on her jumping straight into this work straight out of university, what us festival goers can do to be as environmentally friendly as we can, and a lot more in between!

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This week I'm joined by Strategic Director of the Music Venue Trust, Beverley Whitrick, to learn all about grassroots venues. We discuss everything from how grassroots venues support and help musicians in the early stages of their careers, to the impact of the pandemic and increased threats of venue closures. We also touch on being a woman in a higher position in a company and empowering those coming through.

Music Venue Trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues.

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Welcome back to the latest episode of All the gear, but no idea, with my special guest Naomi Pohl!

Naomi is the deputy general secretary of the Musicians Union, a community of more than 32,000 musicians working to protect our members' rights and campaign for a fairer music industry. She is also the founder of the Union’s ‘Safe Space’, for musicians to share their stories of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the music industry.

We discussed sexual harassment in the music industry, the results of the report the MU recently conducted, and what and where people can go to feel safe. It was a timely interview, as we recorded in the week where the body of Sarah Everard was found in East England, and outrage at the lack of women’s safety was heavy in the media.

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I've got the degree, but there's still so much about the music industry I'm yet to learn. So I'm on a self indulgent journey of learning more from inspiring people, to help myself enter the music industry with more confidence. And you're invited along!

All the gear, but no idea is a new podcast series by Sophia Hughes aimed at young people taking their first steps in the music industry. It's particularly for women, non-binary people, those in the LGBT+ community, essentially anyone who is a minority in this industry. We will be going into more depth on various jobs within the industry, learning how to navigate this space as a minority and gaining confidence and optimism that the industry is moving in a positive direction.