Gemma Cairney thinks the music industry has become a “fairer place”.
The 36-year-old DJ hailed how artists’ well-being has become increasingly important and musicians have taken more control over their careers.
She said, “I think maybe the music industry has hopefully become a fairer place. I think a lot of questions have been raised about the industry aspect. How hard does a pop star’s team work? And how much do they want to make? And how many days do they have in their career?
“I think a lot of things have been exposed and kind of flipped in terms of the conversation about streaming or image.
“I think there are discussions that have never happened before that are much more caring and respectful of the artists themselves.”
Gemma praised the BRIT Awards with Mastercard for adopting gender-neutral categories.
She said: “I think gender neutrality is a good thing. I think we should accept people as individuals. And the less we focus on gender specifics and expectations, the better because often what you find statistically, and research will tell us that actually, the more we divide, the harder it is for those who choose to identify as women.
“If we break some of the category boxes, then that’s a step forward.”
Gemma’s latest project with Mastercard sees her mentoring BRIT School students in their creative work via #ShoutOut in partnership with the BRIT Awards and, as an alumnus herself, she admitted she was “proud » to get involved because the establishment will always hold a « special place » in his heart.
She said: “I have a special place in my heart for these years at BRIT School. I think the world is very different now.
“But at the same time, I had my own kind of personal liberation by going to a free performing arts school and, looking, I guess there’s a difference in what was available to me in that as far as mainstream education is concerned, and it was really a defining institute for me in most of the formative years.
“So it was a pleasure and I felt very proud to be asked to be a mentor. I think if you would tell me little I would have that opportunity. And I would have a career that was deemed successful enough to be considered a someone the younger versions of me could learn from.
