ABSTRACT
With the gendering of popular
culture, the music industry has become sexualized, politicized and controlled
by male music business executives hence creating an absence of self-esteem,
self-respect, self-realization and career dissatisfaction among female
musicians that automatically disenables the treatment
of these women with fairness, justice and representation as ingenious artists,
thoughtful composers, critical commenters on socio-political issues and above
all, humans with their own emotions, feelings and flaws. This paper proffers solutions on
how female musicians can navigate the music industry on their own terms in a
society that sees the female body as a toy and lesser performer before it sees
her creative abilities. The primary sources of data used in this research are
based on the writer’s personal experiences as a musician and disc jockey and
from answers gotten from chatting with three anonymous female musicians. The
secondary sources of data are derived from blogs, podcasts and journals which
focus on the experiences of nine female musicians namely: Queen Oladunni Decency,
Salawa Abeni, Onyeka Onwenu, Waje, Simi, Tiwa Savage, Niniola, Niyola and Yemi
Alade. DJ Irawo’s experiences also reveal that some of the problems experienced
by female musicians are self-inflicted or caused by nature. This study
concludes that feminism must play a role in encouraging female musicians to
have self-esteem and strive for longevity in their careers by working hard and smart,
independently and collaboratively in the achievement of their music goals.
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