Concord Music Publishing's Exceptional Female Songwriters and Composers

Monday the 8th March was International Women’s Day. You all know that.

But did you know – according to a survey last year of the top 100 songs by British acts to feature in the UK airplay chart - only 19% of the songwriters were female? And, only 3% of producers on those 100 tracks were female? (Source - The Guardian).

Now I could get into some of the sad truths about why that is, but it kind of pisses me off. Instead, I want to shout about some of the exceptional female songwriters and composers on our roster.

First up - Fiona Bevan. She is a multi-platinum selling songwriter, and has written hits for the likes of Kylie, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, One Direction, Backstreet Boys, Tom Walker – I could go on. You might have heard her recently being interviewed on BBC 4 alongside Paul McCartney, or standing up for songwriters about the lack of streaming royalties in this article. She’s one of the most in-demand top liners around – even if you hadn’t heard her name before you will have definitely have heard one of her songs.

Next up – the remarkable Meredith Monk. Part of the Boosey & Hawkes family, Meredith is a composer, singer, director, choreographer and filmmaker. She has written in genres ranging from solo and ensemble vocal pieces to opera, orchestra, chamber music and film – but has also pretty much created an entire unique genre of musical expression. You will understand what I mean when you listen.

My third is Alice Ivy – real name Annika Schmarsel. Our A&R team introduced us to her last year, and I have been in love with her ever since. She is an Australian songwriter and producer, who released a killer album ‘Don’t Sleep’ last Summer that is an epic celebration of diversity. She’s talked in the past about having to deal with people who couldn’t understand that she was a producer, and male producers claiming they’d 'ghost-produced' her stuff. Thank God she didn’t let that get in her way.

There are SO many others. But for now, enjoy some tunes from these three insanely talented songwriters/composers, who just happen to be females.