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Suffragettes: All-female record label wants 'voice' for women

BBC Emma Blake MosriBBC

Too many female artists are being told how to act by men in the music business, a record industry insider says.

Emma Blake Mosri wants to change that and is hoping Saffron Records will be a big part of a new movement.

It is the Bristol record label which only employs women and only has female acts on its books.

21-year-old Emma works there and says it is needed because young female artists aren't being given a say.

Getty Images Stefflon Don at the MobosGetty Images
Emma thinks artists like Stefflon Don are making a positive change for women in music

"We wanted to represent young women who want to get a music career," she explains.

"The fact that our whole world is so populated with women, the idea of them not being represented seems kind of foolish and it seems to fall short of the potential of what the music industry could be like."

A survey of the UK music industry published by UK Music in 2017 found 70% of senior executive roles were filled by men.

Emma is concerned that means too often male music executives are responsible for the marketing of young women and they are being misrepresented.

"I always harp back to Rita Ora. She has the most incredible voice but then you also look at the music that's being released and you are seeing how this potential that is within this artist has been exploited or even fallen short of.

"She is not another copy of Rihanna, she's herself in her own right... making her a copy of someone else kind of devalues her."

But Emma suggests some kind of revolution is occurring with the industry and a lot of new female artists are doing things their own way in spite of the challenges they face.

"Currently you are seeing a lot of them taking their own space and utilising that to grow and represent their own authentic voice because the industry isn't representing them."

"I think that there is a lot of growth where you are seeing women especially take hold, like Ray BLK, and even like with Stefflon Don, signing a deal and that she is just doing so in her own right and claiming that space."

Getty Images Ray BLKGetty Images
Ray BLK chose not to sign to a record label and says she wants her music to "empower women"

All week we've been talking to modern Suffragettes, 100 years since some women got the vote in the UK.

Emma thinks one song epitomises the fight for gender equality: Kehlani's Already Won.

"It's about accepting who you are and actually using that as a platform to be your most authentic self."

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