International Perspectives on Gender in/and the Music Industry: Power, Work and Cultural Production 

Gender inequality continues to shape the structure and dynamics of the cultural and creative industries, where access, recognition, and representation remain deeply uneven. Within this broader landscape, the music industry emerges as a particularly revealing site in which issues of visibility, authority, and creative legitimacy intersect with mechanisms of production, distribution, and consumption. Despite the increasing attention to diversity and inclusion, the music sector still reflects persistent gendered asymmetries—both in its labour practices and in the symbolic production of cultural meanings. Women, non-binary, and gender-diverse professionals often encounter structural barriers, from access to resources and leadership positions to the reproduction of stereotyped narratives within artistic and media discourses. At the same time, music functions as a cultural factory where gender models are constructed, circulated, and contested, making it an essential site for analysing how power and representation operate in contemporary cultural economies. This volume aims to explore the intersection of gender, media, and the music industry, bringing together interdisciplinary contributions that analyse the gendered dimensions of music as both an economic system and a cultural field. We invite scholars to examine how gender operates within the production, mediation, and consumption of music, as well as within the infrastructures, technologies, and imaginaries that sustain the industry. The goal is to foster a critical dialogue between gender studies, media studies, and music industry research, and to highlight how emerging practices, policies, and technologies can contribute to reshaping the cultural and economic geography of the sector. Deadline: Abstract deadline: 28 February 2026 
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