UK-based collective Not Bad For A Girl have been at the forefront of advocating for diversity on club and festival lineups for seven years.
However, in spite of this it seems not much has changed, as major festivals and events are still curating lineups which are 80 – 100% men. In light of this, Not Bad for A Girl issued an open letter to promotors, booking agents, artists, fans and anyone who is involved in the industry in some capacity. The letter highlights four key action points related to promoters and bookers, fans, artists and anyone else that’s interested in the issue. So far, the letter has been signed by HE.SHE.THEY founder Steven Braines, Jamz Supernova, Jyoty, HAAi, Naina and Defected Records CEO Wez Saunders.
The open letter also mentions that the collective studied festival and event lineups for 2026, and they noticed that one particular festival lineup featured 80% men, with just one woman in the first two rows of the lineup. “At one, nearly 80% of total acts are men. Just one woman features in the first two rows of the line-up, while 8 headline slots are taken by all-male acts.” At another festival, 9 out of 10 acts are men: “At another, across the top eleven lines on the poster, 87% of acts are male, while 9 out of every 10 artists are men. There are no openly trans or non-binary artists represented at all.” 
On the events front, it’s not any better either. A club in Manchester recently announced their season lineup where 75% of the artists on the lineup were men.
Not Bad For A Girl also stated that bookings are crucial for an artist’s visibility and to be able to build a sustainable career. “Live bookings are the backbone of an artist’s career. Fewer bookings leads to less income, reduced visibility, weaker leverage with agents and promoters, and fewer chances to progress into headline slots.”
The letter ended with the collective saying that they don’t want to publicly name and shame people, instead they want the letter to be a catalyst for change. “Finally, the last thing we want to do with this letter is add to a culture of public shaming. We’ve chosen not to name names because the market is hard enough, and we don’t believe that finger-pointing is a useful tool for positive change.”
To read the full open letter click here
