
TEN MANCHESTER-DEFINING ARTISTS TO ADD TO YOUR PLAYLISTS
Meet the artists defying the stereotypes of the previously male-led Manchester music scene.

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS: WHY IS THERE STILL SUCH A GENDER IMBALANCE ON FESTIVAL LINE-UPS?
Female artists are dominating music charts, record sales, and award nominations like never before, but they’re still vastly under-represented on festival line-ups.

INTRODUCING VIRTUOSO: THE VIRTUAL STAGE FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Learn how to DJ with some of the industry’s biggest names.

BREAKING THE SEXIST ALGORITHM
With the lack of gender diversity a prominent issue within the music industry, Flo Stroud explores the role streaming sites play in creating divides between male and female artists.

5 ESSENTIAL MUSIC DOCS FT. WOMEN TO ADD TO YOUR WATCHLIST
Discover some of the most fascinating documentaries about women and LGBTQ+ artists working in music.

MUST SEE FILMS FOR MUSIC FANS
If you’re hunting high and low for films featuring awesome music this lockdown, then we’ve got you covered! Read for some mainstream and lesser-known films heavily featuring music.

IWD: SISTER ROSETTA THARPE - THE GODMOTHER OF ROCK & ROLL
The trailblazing African American woman who invented a genre that took the world by storm.

IWD: WENDY CARLOS: THE GENRE - BENDING ELECTRONIC MUSIC PIONEER
Wendy Carlos' impressive career spans decades, and despite transphobic prejudice, she has changed the face of electronic music forever.

IWD: DAME ETHEL SMYTH - THE MUSICIAN AND THE MILITANT
For Women’s History Month we remember feminist icon and classical composer, Dame Ethel Smyth.

OPINION: SEXISM AND ALL THAT JAZZ
Lola Grieve explores the musical and institutional structures upholding gender inequality in jazz, and the efforts being made to dismantle them

ACCEPTABLE IN THE 80S? THE IMPORTANCE, IMPACT, AND EMOTION OF AIDS DRAMA ‘IT’S A SIN’
Russel T. Davies’ critically acclaimed series ‘It’s A Sin’ poignantly pushes the light and shade of life in the 80s, bringing the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community firmly into the consciousness of the mainstream.

CONNECTED BY SOUND: “WHERE WORDS FAIL, MUSIC SPEAKS”
VG writer and Mental Health Nurse, Claire Rothwell discusses the power of music on the mind, both professionally and personally.

EMPOWERING FILMS TO LIFT YOU UP IN LOCKDOWN
VOCAL GIRLS’ ultimate list of pick me up films to get you through lockdown 3.0

OPINION: FEMALE FANS CAN MAKE A MUSICIAN'S CAREER, AND IT’S TIME THEY WERE TAKEN SERIOUSLY
Young women so often launch the career of the legendary bands that ‘real’ music fans (ie. men) then wish to gatekeep.

QUEER TV TO WATCH FOR LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH
Shows to watch that champion intersectional queerness

MEET THE RECORD LABELS CHANGING THE INDUSTRY FROM THE INSIDE OUT
With just fifteen percent of record labels female-owned, the industry is still self-evidently a ‘boys club.’ Here are three female-owned labels you should get to know.

OPINION: WHY WE MUST SAVE BRIXTON WINDMILL
Why Martha Mckay of Pretty Preachers Club is calling for help to save her favourite venue!

8 UK HIP-HOP ARTISTS TO WATCH IN 2020
Get to know the new artists killing it in the hip-hop scene.

10 MUSIC PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO IN 2020
Here’s our top 10 picks of music podcasts to listen to right now, all available for free on Spotify!

OPINION: WHY SPRINGSTEEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN AHEAD OF HIS TIME
In 2000, Bruce Springsteen wrote a protest song called ‘American Skin (41 shots)’ which tells the story of Amadou Diallo, a black 23-year-old man who was shot to death on his own doorstep when a NYPD officer mistook his wallet for a gun — and shot him 41 times.