Ageing In: 'Ageism Anarchists' Call for End to Ageism within Australian Music Industry

15 Sept

KATIE BROWN - 15 SEP 2021

This week has seen a new anti-ageism social media movement spring up in Australia, and its aim is to address systemic ageism within the music industry. Launched by a collective under the moniker ‘Ageism Anarchists’, its intent is to encourage the sharing of stories that expose and highlight the ageist rhetoric and experiences encountered by those in the music community. The anonymous administrators, who refer to themselves simply as “artists, musicians and the music industry”, hope that this will “…encourage an equitable and sustainable future for all artists”.

Fresh in both inception and instigation, the movement was born from a conversation held between a support group consisting of a few dozen 30+ members held just last week. They met to discuss the invisibility that so often sits alongside ageing within the Australian music industry, with systemic structures of oppression via the likes of mainstream radio, festival lineups, event rosters and the industry at large forming their focus.

During this conversation, an alarming number of stories of age-based discrimination came to light, and the group organically called for the conversation to move to a public sphere, driving the formation of ‘Ageism Anarchists’. After going live at 7pm on Tuesday this week, the movement immediately gained a strong following essentially overnight, with artists, members from the Australian music industry and media representatives voicing their support.

Concerning stories are already coming to light, with artists recounting experiences like having their age flung back to them as a reason their career would be better as a hobby (and this while still in their 20s), and feeling like they had to disguise their age in order to be offered opportunities (again, also while still in their 20s). Alongside these stories, strong and empowered messages are emerging from artists, especially women, who embrace their age and refuse to buy into the rhetoric that it is “too late”, demonstrating that with age comes experience, mastery of craft, and the best songs of their careers (New Zealand artist Tami Neilson, who at 43 has just hit a significant milestone of her first million streams of a single, has just shared a post on Facebook to this tune also).

The extent to which ageism is also a problem within the New Zealand music landscape is yet to emerge, but, like our Australian counterparts, many aspects of the industry here are based around systems that favour and are geared towards youth: a glance at charting singles and albums reflects this bent, and where artists are older (and usually just in their 30s), these artists are predominantly male.

Movements like ‘Ageism Anarchists’ hope to challenge the norms that support these structures, and the collective calls for organisations and individuals to share their own stories and messages of solidarity, tagging the account @ageing_in and using the hashtag #AgeingIn, thereby taking part in a vitally important conversation and growing national movement.

Follow @ageing_in and #AgeingIn to keep up to date with the movement.

Have something to say? Email us at katie@themaymagazine.com.

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