Music in Canada has played a bigger role in shaping the country’s economy. The British, French, and natives have greatly contributed to molding the musical industry in Canada. For a long time, female contribution to the Canadian music industry has not been recognized. Despite great advancement being experienced in the music industry, little has been made in Canada to ensure that female artists have been raised to standards their fellow men artists are in (Walcott 125). Most of the time, they have been treated badly as compared to male artists.
For a long time, women have been struggling to emerge in the limelight of the music industry. They have not been getting admitted to formal academies to take careers as musicians. This has led to most of them performing poorly both in local and international spheres. Their urge to be recognized has not let them give up. Most of them have been willing to give up everything for the sake of ensuring that they are recognized in the country. They have given up getting married and raising families as they see these as barriers to their efforts. Despite their entire struggle, there has been little recognition of female artists in Canada. Most of these artists do well in international spheres but do poorly in Canada. Most musical awards offered in the country are seen to be awarded to male artists with females only participating in those awards that are specifically for the women category. Little effort has been made to gauge them with male artists as they are deemed to be poor in music. Despite Michelle Wright being very instrumental in the music industry, she has only been recognized as the best female artist and not classified with her male counterparts (Wagman PP.47-57). Her work has not been acknowledged in Canada. Celine Dion has been a great artist not only in Canada but also in the whole world. Surprisingly enough, her recognition in the world can not be equated to her recognition in Canada. Even after being at the forefront in promoting various humanitarian causes, she has hardly been recognized in the country.
For many years, female artists have been earning poorly in comparison to their male counterparts. Some reports suggest that female artist has been earning as little as thirty percent less in comparison to their male counterparts. It has proved so difficult for a female artist to earn a living in the music industry in Canada. This has led to many artists opting to move from the country to other states where they could be readily accepted. Throughout the music history of Canada female artists have been seen as subordinate to male artists. Even today women are still underrepresented in the industry compare to male musicians. With the advent of various television stations that air music, gender discrimination among artists has greatly been portrayed in Canada. Women have been seen to heavily rely on their sexuality to earn recognition while men concentrate on instrument use. Women have for a long time struggled to get noticed in the music industry that has been dominated by men (Sarkar 140). In the rock industry, for instance, they have been dominated by men making their contribution insignificant.
The issue of male dominance in the music industry in Canada has been so immense to an extent that females heavily rely on sex attractions to make their albums draw market attention. This has not only affected stakeholders in the music industry but also society. Talented women have opted to collaborate with male singers as their solo produce can not have any impact on the market. They have greatly been exploited by male song writes that do not have nice voices to rely on in selling their songs. Most Canadians do not perceive women as artists. For a long time, there has been a boundary on instruments to be played by men and those meant for women. Research has proved that there is a significant difference when it comes to the preference of musical instruments. This date is back since the establishment of the industry in Canada and people have been conforming to it. For instance, drums have always been known to be played by the male while flutes are for ladies. It has been eccentric to see women guitarists in Canada. There have been gender boundary established a long time ago that hinders women from playing some musical instruments. For women who engage in playing guitar, they have been treated with contempt making it hard for them to earn a living out of their career. This has led to women coming up with organizations aimed at familiarizing female guitarists to people (Young 187).
Women have failed to perform well in Canada as they are not accorded equal opportunities with their male counterparts. There are cases where club owners decline to hire female artists to perform in their clubs. This denies them a chance to get into the limelight thus making them unpopular in the industry. Due to them not being seen in various performances, they are termed as incompetent. In most countries, female DJs are believed to entertain more than males. In Canada this is not the case; women have not been given chance to perform as DJs. Those who get chances have not managed to attract a huge crowd as many believe that that is men’s job.
Canadian female artists have proved to have the potential in the music industry. In most cases, they have featured in billboard lists with most of them emerging among the top ten. Despite this, their songs have not been doing well in their country. Artists such as Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, and Shania Twain have been so popular in the United States than back in Canada. Due to the unfavorable environment in their home, most Canadian female artists are seen to concentrate on other countries as sources of the market for their songs. Despite Canada having some of the best marketing techniques in the world, female artists have not managed to establish themselves in the market. This is due to the entrenchment of the mentality within the public that women are poor in the music industry. Production houses have also been seen to mistreat female artists. Even after doing well in other countries, they have not made efforts in marketing them in Canada. This has made some artists result in seeking contracts with international recording firms outside Canada (Sutherland PP. 146-154).
From their performance in international markets, Canadian female artists have proved to have the potential of taking the music industry in Canada to higher heights. There is a need for all stakeholders to know that with the advent of technology, everything is evolving and now what was being done by men can be done better by women. The country loses a lot of money when female artists opt to look for producers out of Canada. There is a need for the government and key players in the music industry to come up with strategies for promoting female artists in the country. Many female artists would like to get featured in the industry but they fear that they might be treated with contempt as their colleagues. This is doing the country more harm than good.
Works cited
Sarkar, Mela. “Still reppin’ Por Mi Gente” The Transformative Power of Language Mixing in Quebec Hip Hop. Nd. PP. 139-172.
Sutherland, Richard and Straw, Will. “The Canadian music at a crossroad.” Nd. PP. 141-262.
Wagman, Iran. Rock the nation: MuchMusic, Cultural policy and the development of English Canadian Music video programming, 1979-1984. Canadian Journal of Communication 26 (2001): 47-518.
Walcott, Rinaldo. “Caribbean Pop Culture in Canada; Or, the Impossibility of Belonging to the Nation.” Small Axe 9 (2001): 123-139.
Young, David. “Ethno-Racial Minorities and the Juno.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology 31.2 (2006): 183-210.