The music industry’s push to include more women in its festivals and awards shows over the years has been weak and the result only of widespread criticism. However, the PRS Foundation’s new initiative, Keychange, aims to change all that.

Festivals that pledge to the Keychange initiative will feature lineups that are split evenly between men and women, by 2022. The initiative already has 45 members, including BBC Proms, Reeperbahn Festival, Way Out West and The Great Escape.
PRS CEO Vanessa Reed released a statement outlining her foundation’s inspiration for Keychange.

“Our focus on gender equality in 2018 aligns with the centenary for women being given the vote in the UK.”

The initiative comes 100 years after women gained suffrage in the United Kingdom. Reed is confident that pledges from women at every level of the music industry will “significantly accelerate change.”

Imogen Heap, Tony Visconti and Shirley Manson are just a few prominent musicians who have given their pledges. Manson feels “utterly outraged” by the lack of female representation in the music industry. That being said, she is “proud to support Keychange and everything it is trying to do.”