Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, and
Teyana Taylor to Advise Emerging
Creatives Across Various Disciplines, Alongside MUSE Mentors,
Rapsody, Trina, and Amber Riley
LOS
ANGELES, April 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Femme It
Forward (FIF), the multi-format music and entertainment company
dedicated to celebrating, educating, empowering, and mentoring
female visionaries, announces the expansion of its mentorship
endeavors with the launch of "MUSE" (Musicians Uplifting Stars
Everyday), a new Mentorship Program specifically created to guide
and advise emerging female artists and creatives in the music
industry. Under the direction of FIF's Founder and President, Live
Nation Partner Heather Lowery, "MUSE" will serve the creative side
of the business and complement FIF's existing Next Gem Femme
mentorship program, which offers a mentorship track for rising
women of color executives and entrepreneurs to find space in the
entertainment industry.
MUSE is a multi-pronged initiative that will bring together
women across different disciplines within the music industry to
inspire, empower, and mentor one another, uplift their communities,
and generate new music.
"I have made it my mission to pave the way for future
generations of women to be equipped with the tools they need to sit
at any table," says FIF's President and Founder, Heather Lowery. "MUSE has lived in my heart for
the last 3 years, and I am honored to release it into reality as a
high-powered program to combat the inequities, disparities, and
disturbing statistics around the historic underrepresentation of
women in the music industry, especially women of color."
Recent findings from USC Annenberg's
"Inclusion Initiative," in collaboration with Spotify, shed light
on some concerning statistics on women in the music industry. The
study reveals that a mere 6.5% of producers are women, with only 19
out of 1,972 producing credits going to women of color.
Additionally, less than 1% of 1,200 popular songs have women as the
sole songwriters. However, there's a positive trend: in 2023, 40.6%
of solo or featured artists were women, a notable increase from
2022's 34.8%, though the change from 2012 (35.8%) was just shy of
significance at 0.2%. Dr. Stacy L.
Smith, Dr. Katherine Pieper,
Karla Hernandez, and Sam Wheeler spearheaded this research. On the
engineering front, the picture remains bleak, with only 1.9% of
credited engineers on popular songs being women or non-binary
individuals, as highlighted in the "Lost In The Mix," Fix The Mix
Annual Report from April 2023. These
findings underscore why the music industry needs initiatives like
MUSE to help foster more pathways for artists and creatives to
thrive, innovate, and leave an indelible mark on the industry.
Lowery recruited music industry powerhouses Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, and Teyana
Taylor as MUSE advisors. They will each participate in a
moderated conversation and unique Q&A programming, led by
Heather Lowery, to serve as an open
forum for the creatives in the MUSE program to receive advice and
anecdotes to illuminate new career paths. "Heather's MUSE is
creating a powerful circle of women from different backgrounds and
across multiple generations," Erykah
Badu said. "I am choosing to share my legacy by becoming a
MUSE advisor to encourage and educate this circle and help the next
generation become an improvement on the design that precedes
them."
In addition to these advisors, a bench of award-winning artists
and creatives will serve as hands-on mentors including producer and
songwriter duo Nova Wav, songwriter and artist Nija,
songwriter and artist Jozzy, and 4x Grammy-winning engineer
Ann Mincieli. Rapper
Rapsody is paired with Brittany Carter, Trina is paired with
Kaliii, and Amber
Riley is paired with Jane
Handcock under the MUSE mentorship umbrella.
In addition, music from FIF's MUSE Labs will be included in
FIF's second Big Femme Energy music compilation album slated for
late 2024.
Femme It Forward is honored to announce 2024's inaugural MUSE
list.
Learn more about MUSE at FemmeItForward.com/muse/
Instagram: @femmeitforward | Twitter: @femmeitforward |
Facebook: Femme It Forward
Hashtags: #MUSE50 #FemmeItForward
ABOUT FEMME IT FORWARD:
Founded in 2019 by
Heather Lowery in partnership
with Live Nation Entertainment, Femme It Forward is a pioneering
music and entertainment company focused on celebrating, educating,
and empowering women in the entertainment industry through
multi-format experiences and mentorship opportunities. In addition
to producing music festivals, concerts, original content, comedy
shows, panels, college engagements, philanthropic endeavors, and
more, Femme It Forward is home to Next Gem Femme, a leading
mentorship program connecting emerging talent with influential
women executives and entrepreneurs. With a strong commitment to
diversity and inclusion, this program is reshaping industry
standards, benefiting over 600 women of color, including students
and alumni from Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. For more information on Femme It Forward,
visit FemmeItForward.com. For live updates and to join the
conversation, follow #FemmeItForward on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok,
YouTube, and Facebook.
About Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation
Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world's leading live entertainment
company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live
Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional
information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com.
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SOURCE Femme It Forward