Canadian Music Weeks Keychain 50:50 Pledge

Canadian Music Week is proud to be part of the global push to bring gender parity to music conferences and festivals.

We are pleased to announce that women and bands led by women made up 41% of all musical acts at Canadian Music Week 2019.  Canadian Music Week signed the Keychange 50:50 pledge to achieve gender parity by 2022.

What is Keychange?

Keychange is an international campaign which invests in emerging talent whilst encouraging music festivals and conferences to sign up to a 50:50 gender balance pledge by 2022. 

Keychange is led by PRS Foundation, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, in partnership with Musikcentrum Öst, Reeperbahn Festival, Iceland Airwaves, BIME, Tallinn Music Week, Way Out West, Liverpool Sound City and Mutek.

CMW's music festival features artists of all genres from across Canada and worldwide. In 2017, 27% of our festival artists were women or bands led by women. In 2018 we increased that number to 31%, a year-over-year increase of 22%.

In 2019, 41% of CMW's festival artists were women or bands led by women. This represents a 31% overall increase from 2018. We are extremely proud of the progress we've made and look forward to meeting our goal of 50/50 gender equality at Canadian Music Week by 2022.

To date, nearly 200 music festivals and conferences have taken the Keychange 50:50 pledge. CMW is proud to be a part of this incredibly important initiative and we look forward to continuing to promote equality within the music industry for many years to come. ​