Every week, I’ve been interviewing womxn in industries that are male-dominated to ask them about their experiences. This week, we meet Shauna Watson.

Introduction

Who are you and what do you do?

I've been working in the music industry for about 6 years now. I started after I graduated from Law, swiftly ditching that career for one in the music business! I work full time in Rubyworks, an indie record label and management company in Dublin with artists like Hozier, Rodrigo y Gabriela, David Keenan, Hudson Taylor and Wyvern Lingo on the roster. When live music was a thing, pre-covid, I worked at The Ruby Sessions doing marketing, production and booking. I also lead the Dublin chapter of shesaid.so, a global network of women working in the music industry. In 2018 I founded We’ve Only Just Begun which is a music festival and now an online directory!

Why do you do what you do?

I love working in the music business but I only realised it was a career that existed after I finished college. All through school and college I was encouraged to take up more traditional career paths and the arts industry was never discussed as an option. Music business was always something I found myself doing “on the side” with various music projects in college and even in school I organised gigs and helped out friends’ bands.

Then after a few years working in the business I quickly noticed the lack of women both at my level and at an executive level and I was kind of baffled by it. I was like what’s going on here why is this the case and how do we solve it.

How did you get to where you are today?

Pure graft! I started working at The Ruby Sessions as an intern, which was the first experience I had in the music industry. I then got a full time job at BIMM Dublin, a music college, coordinating their events. After that, I went to the UK to work as a Festival Assistant for a while and when I came back to Ireland I worked as a Production Assistant for Whelans and MCD and then at Rubyworks as a Label & Management Coordinator. When I started asking questions about the gender imbalance in the industry and researching organisations that worked to change it, I became involved with shesaid.so and then started We’ve Only Just Begun.

What did you find to be the most challenging part of getting started?

Meeting people in the industry for sure. Coming from Law and Business I didn’t have a network of contacts in music. I specifically remember telling one of my business lecturers that I wanted to work in music business and they said “If you don’t know anyone in music business then forget it.” That was a bit crap to hear but I knew it was what I wanted to do so I was going to find a way to make it work.

When I graduated from college I started to build connections and meet people as much as I could by volunteering at Hard Working Class Heroes (now Ireland Music Week) and introducing myself to the attendees. I also emailed heads of record labels, management companies and promoters to ask for a chat / advice about working in the industry. I got a lot more responses than I expected and set up some meetings with people I still work with today. Networking can be daunting and most people dislike it but it’s part and parcel of the industry so you just have to be brave and put yourself out there.

Communication

Did you find there was a lack of clear communication from the Government during the pandemic in relation to the music/art scene?

1000000000000000000000%. I think the government didn’t know its arse from its elbow on most things during the pandemic. But it really felt like the arts were hung out to dry more than most industries who had guidance around what they could / couldn’t do and also financial support which the arts industry didn’t get until recently. There didn’t seem to be any motivation to facilitate the return of the arts during the pandemic whereas that was certainly prevalent in the tourism and sports industries.

The Gender Question

Have you noticed any difference in the way people interact with you compared to your male peers?

Definitely. It’s particularly stark in the live music scene and I really noticed it when I was working in production at shows or as a sound engineer at The Ruby Sessions. I would get a lot of shocked faces (exclusively from men) when I introduced myself as their sound engineer or stage manager and they seemed even more shocked at the end of the show when I had demonstrated that I could actually do my job!

There were countless incidents, some really negative, where afterwards I would ask my male sound engineer colleague at the same venue if he had ever experienced anything like this. His answer was always a heavy no. Every woman in the music industry has direct experience of sexism or being treated differently because of gender. It’s common but that doesn’t make it acceptable.

How we can solve the gender imbalance in the music industry? Is it a case of visibility or a complete overhaul?

That is the ultimate question!

It’s a whole host of solutions combined so get ready, here are a few I think will help... If there are more women booked to play on line-ups, on radio and playlisted there would be an increased balance of visibility. This would in turn have an affect on the young generation of female/non-binary musicians who may feel more encouraged to pursue music if they see more female role models they can look up to.

I think it’s important for men to join women in calling out unacceptable behaviour towards or about women. So much goes unchallenged because it’s “just a joke” or “just lad banter”.

I also think we need more women at the top making the decisions in the boardrooms. And on top of all of this, the entire industry needs to accept responsibility for achieving gender equality. It’s not just the burden of women and gender minorities. For there to be meaningful change, everyone needs to play a part, men included.

How can we make small changes in our choices to ensure we're supporting womxn in the industry?

Actively try and find female/non-binary fronted bands or artists you haven’t heard of before. The We’ve Only Just Begun Directory is a great tool for that because it profiles over 600 musicians, bands and DJs in Ireland. It’s about making the extra effort to seek out, discover, listen to, follow and support female and non-binary identifying artists. You might find your next favourite band in the process!

What advice do you have for womxn entering this industry?

Meet as many people as possible, learn as much as possible and be authentically yourself.

Anything else you’d like to add?

If you’re female/non-binary musician, band, DJ or industry professional (Irish or based in Ireland) and would like to be added to the Directory it’s really easy to set yourself up. Just click ‘Add Entry’ on the relevant Directory page. If you have any problems get in touch: shauna@weveonlyjustbegun.ie

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If you want to read the rest of the series, you can do so here.

Females First: Meet Shauna