{"id":107523,"date":"2026-04-01T11:16:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=107523"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:16:54","slug":"women-are-headlining-the-future-of-live-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/women-are-headlining-the-future-of-live-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Women are headlining the future of live music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 style=\"user-select: auto;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; user-select: auto;\">From arena takeovers to sellout shows, women are reshaping the live music industry, but challenges still lie ahead.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As Women\u2019s History Month draws to a close, <a href=\"https:\/\/musically.com\/2026\/03\/30\/women-headliners-at-the-o2-have-increased-by-300-since-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MusicAlly<\/a> sat down with Emma Bownes, SVP of venue programming at AEG International, to reflect and discuss the progress being made by women in the live music industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few weeks ago, we <a href=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/happy-belated-international-womens-day-celebrating-the-latest-achievements-of-women-in-the-music-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">celebrated International Women\u2019s Day<\/a> by spotlighting the achievements of women across the music industry. But now, it\u2019s time to zoom in on the live music industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-routenote-blog wp-block-embed-routenote-blog\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"AVrXr4uru4\"><a href=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/happy-belated-international-womens-day-celebrating-the-latest-achievements-of-women-in-the-music-industry\/\">Happy (belated) International Women\u2019s Day: Celebrating the latest achievements of women in the music industry<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Happy (belated) International Women\u2019s Day: Celebrating the latest achievements of women in the music industry&#8221; &#8212; RouteNote Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/happy-belated-international-womens-day-celebrating-the-latest-achievements-of-women-in-the-music-industry\/embed\/#?secret=AVrXr4uru4\" data-secret=\"AVrXr4uru4\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3>A decade of change on the biggest stages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Across the live music industry, female headliners are taking the world by storm. At London\u2019s O2 Arena, one of AEG\u2019s largest venues, the growth in female headliners over the past decade is hard to ignore. Ten years ago, just 8 out of 192 shows were fronted by women. Today, that number has jumped to 38, an increase of over 300%. For example, Ariana Grande has an upcoming 10-show European exclusive leg, while Raye and Olivia Dean have six sold out nights each at the venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s clear that female artists are becoming a core part of the live calendar, whether it be multi-night runs at arenas or stadiums. They\u2019re selling out too. But this isn\u2019t just about individual success stories, it reflects a wider shift across the live industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Challenges still remain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For all the progress, the live music industry still has work to do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bownes points out that there\u2019s a lingering perception that it\u2019s a male-domianted space. With that, women are still more likely to be labelled as \u201cdifficult\u201d or \u201caggressive\u201d for expressing their opinions. Then there\u2019s the issue of image. Female artists continue to face a disproportionate level of focus around their appearance, compared to their male peers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These aren\u2019t new conversions either, but they\u2019re still far from resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Moving forward<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The encouraging part is that the industry isn\u2019t standing still. Within AEG, Bownes points out its \u2018gold\u2019 status when it comes to EDI. So, there\u2019s a clear push from organisations to support a more inclusive music industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom line is that women are no longer a support act in today\u2019s live music industry. They\u2019re center stage and they\u2019re the ones driving the live music industry forward. So while there\u2019s still ground to cover, the direction of travel is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.routenote.com\">Distribute your music to streaming platforms everywhere for free with RouteNote today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From arena takeovers to sellout shows, women are reshaping the live music industry, but challenges still lie ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":107524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11109],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Women are headlining the future of live music - RouteNote Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/women-are-headlining-the-future-of-live-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women are headlining the future of live music - 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