Rike van Kleef: "Billige Plätze. Gender, Macht und Diskriminierung in der Musikbranche"

In the organizer's words:

Every year, millions of people make a pilgrimage to festivals to lose themselves in escapism, ecstasy and a boundless sense of freedom - and of course in music. The music is predominantly performed by men. Why is that? Despite all the successes of female artists and the increasingly loud calls for more diversity, the 2025 festival summer will once again be characterized by male-dominated line-ups. How can this persistent injustice be explained? And what does it say about the music industry itself?

Rike spoke to numerous players from the live and festival industry and paints a revealing portrait of the sector. She examines the difficulties FLINTA* artists face, how power structures in the industry work, why women still earn less and how the safety of female and queer musicians is affected in times of post-#MeToo. Van Kleef also shows what the path to more gender equality could look like: How bookers can find more diverse line-ups, what would make festivals safe spaces for FLINTA*s and how male-dominated structures can be dissolved.

"Rike van Kleef has written an eminently important and extremely well-researched book, which even I, who have been in the business for so long, have gained a lot of new insights from reading. Everyone in the music industry should read it and then ask themselves the right questions to finally bring about lasting change." - Markus Kavka

"At last, this important topic is shown in all its facets. It's not enough to just talk about representation, we have to look at the structures that prevent FLINTA* artists from becoming successful. And that's exactly what Rike van Kleef does in her great book." - Ebow

Unfortunately, the magazine floor is not barrier-free.