Female artist growth for Dutch festivals

Dutch pop festivals have increased the number of female acts, states research done by NRC into the development of four leading events.

The percentage of female artists present of stages in the Netherlands has risen from 8–18% since 2015, and the growth of female artists at certain festivals such as Pinkpop and Down the Rabbit Hole has even doubled and tripled respectively since then.

The addition of more female artists to Dutch pop festivals is the latest push by the music industry to become more inclusive to women throughout the whole business.

The growth of female artists at certain festivals such as Pinkpop and Down the Rabbit Hole has even doubled and tripled

The research follows initiatives such as Live Nation’s new Women Nation fund and MVT’s Fightback: Grassroots Promoter, while on the artist side many events have joined the ReBalance and Keychange programmes, which are dedicated to combatting the gender imbalance in festival headliners.

Whilst women are becoming more prevalent at festivals, they still tend to remain relatively low in the line-up, according to NRC’s research, with only Lowlands having a female headliner in Dua Lipa. Female artists feature high on the bill in other festivals; however they often appear in a mixed act. The growth tends to occur more in the alternative acts, and increasingly in the R&B and electronic genres.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.