TikTok became the most downloaded app in the UK in 2020. There are currently 3.7 million active users of the app in the UK alone. The app has also shown its significant impact on the music industry in the last year. 2020 saw 10 trending Tik Tok songs reach Number one on the UK Official Charts including a sea shanty remix of The Wellerman sung by user Nathan Evans.

@nathanevanssThe Wellerman. #seashanty #sea #shanty #viral #singing #acoustic #pirate #new #original #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #singer #scottishsinger #scottish

♬ Wellerman – Sea Shanty – Nathan Evans

TikTok has launched the new Music Hub to boost music discovery and showcase the top trending music content on the platform. The in-app hub includes the latest music trends, videos, and viral tracks as well as playlists and artists currently making waves on the app.

The first launch has utilized International Women’s Day to showcase artists including Little Mix, Christine and the Queens, Ashnikko, and Girl in Red. Girl in Red performs tonight (March 10) on her own TikTok account as part of the app’s #WeAreHere campaign which highlights the underrepresentation of women in the music industry. The #WeAreHere campaign also features UK stars Bonnie Tyler and Dua Lipa. Both artists had the most popular catalogue for video creations in 2020. Dua Lipa kicked off 2020 with one of the app’s most viral sounds of the year with the opening lyrics to her infectious hit Don’t Start Now.

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The hub will be updated weekly featuring both emerging and established musical talent with interactive elements for users. The aim of the new hub is to help drive music discovery and better connect users with new genres and talent. Users can access the Music Hub via the Discover Page, or be directed to the hub when searching for music content on the app.

The T-Shirt features the band’s logo and the words ‘Formidable Young Woman’ which Reid recounts as a security guard naming her, whilst not letting her backstage to her own show! Tweeting about the ordeal, Reid stated, ’“I was just like, ‘For Fucks sake’. If I was fucking Chris Martin, he would not be called a formidable young man. To me that’s just code for ‘bitch’.”

Taking to Twitter, the singer stated, “For #InternationalWomensDay I wanted to launch this new tee with 100% of the profits going to @CareIntUK – an amazing women’s charity working to save lives and achieve equal rights and opportunities. Love to all the formidable young women out there.”

For #InternationalWomensDay I wanted to launch this new tee with 100% of the profits going to @CareIntUK – an amazing women’s charity working to save lives and achieve equal rights and opportunities. Love to all the formidable young women out there.

https://t.co/05IIf2Jyrv pic.twitter.com/1KiXRufbfo

— London Grammar (@londongrammar) March 8, 2021

Care International UK is a charity that supports women and girls to fulfil their full potential, “because when one woman is helped out of poverty, she brings her family and community with her”. Founded in 1945, the charity would send ‘CARE packages’ across the globe to those fighting poverty in the harshest environments.

Reflecting on past experiences within the music industry, Reid tells NME, “If I’m strong-minded, I’m being really ‘difficult’ or I’m being a ‘bitch’, whereas for the boys they’ve just got ‘integrity’ over what they do. It can be a really, really tiny thing – but if you have it every day, and it becomes a thousand moments, it can actually change who you are… You can’t let it go when it’s happening all the time.”

Reid is just one of the many many women who have dealt with patronisation during their music industry careers. Paloma Faith also tweeted her support of Care International UK, saying “Happy International Women’s Day! Today is a celebration of women but also a day to demand more from our society. I’m supporting @careintuk in calling for more women in leadership and decision-making positions.”

Happy International Women’s Day! Today is a celebration of women but also a day to demand more from our society. I’m supporting @careintuk in calling for more women in leadership and decision-making positions.#StopTellingHalfTheStory #March4Women #IWD #palomafaith pic.twitter.com/PvbSgYzocj

— Paloma Faith (@Palomafaith) March 8, 2021

To pre-order Hannah Reids T-Shirt, click the link here. To read her full interview and accounts with NME about being her experiences within the music industry, the conscious and unconscious biases and the difference in treatment toward her than her male bandmates, click here.

As described on their website, “National Album Day was first celebrated in 2018 to praise the album format. After all, we’ve enjoyed over 70 years of albums; classic, life-changing, first, influential and even the ones we couldn’t live without. Albums mean different things to different people – but there is no denying the huge impact they’ve not only had on our lives but on British pop-culture as we know it.”

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Supported by its official partners Bowers & Wilkins and BBC Sounds, National Album Day 2021 will celebrate the vast array of iconic albums released by British female artists, imploring the public to re-visit some of the classics that helped to shape modern music culture. Whilst more information on the event is set to come this summer, the Official Charts Company concurrently announced the UK’s best-selling albums by female artists since the turn of the millennium. Here is the list:

1. 21 by Adele
2. Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
3. 25 by Adele
4. Spirit by Leona Lewis
5. Fame by Lady Gaga
6. No Angel by Dido
7. Life for Rent by Dido
8. Come Away with Me by Norah Jones
9. 19 by Adele
10. Our Version of Events by Emeli Sande

With all but two artists being from the UK (Lady Gaga and Norah Jones), the projects of home-grown talent lead the way for the best-selling female albums since 2000. Notably, all three of Adele’s albums are featured on the list, with her iconic 2011 release ‘21’ topping the list with nearly six million copies domestically sold. Despite having only three albums to her name, the Tottenham-raised singer-songwriter was also announced as the UK’s best-selling female artist of the last two decades.

There is no doubt that National Album Day 2021 will also celebrate the countless number of classic albums produced by British female artists before 2000. Prime candidates might be: Dusty Springfield’s soul opus ‘Dusty in Memphis’ (1969); Kate Bush’s art pop classic ‘House of Rock’ (1985); and Sade’s progressive soul classic ‘Diamond Life’ (1984). Equally, it will also promote the albums of British female artists that are perhaps less likely to have received mainstream attention for their work within a genre. For instance, consider the undeniable impact that Ms. Dynamite’s ‘A Little Deeper’, released in 2002, had on the nascent UK R&B scene of the early 2000s.

Against the backdrop of a world still plagued with gender inequality, it is important to remember the vital contributions that women have made to a largely male-dominated industry. National Album Day 2021 will give all of us in the UK an opportunity both to honour a host of national musical talent and to celebrate the women that have helped to mould the country’s music scene.

HAPPY #INTERNATIONALWOMENSDAY! We asked you to stand up, speak out and use your #PowerToChange our world by supporting every woman—anywhere, everywhere.

There many ways to join the movement, celebrate, & support women. Thread: pic.twitter.com/dYJBKDJGtt

— Women for Women Intl (@WomenforWomen) March 8, 2021

The show will highlight the artist’s feelings towards the silence we’re experiencing on the empty streets and venues during the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. The show, which was organised by Sinéad Gleeson and Gary Sheehan, will be available to view for free on the National Concert Hall’s YouTube and social media channels this Saturday, March 6, at 8pm.

Announcing the event on their Instagram, The National Concert Hall said; “As International Women’s Day approaches, Notes from a Quiet Land, supported by Arthur Cox, invites some of Ireland’s most exciting female voices in music and word to reflect and respond to the silence of empty streets, venues and lives led inside, as we collectively navigate our current way of living.”

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Speaking to Hotpress about the event, Robert Read, CEO of the National Concert Hall said; “An important part of the NCH’s remit is to encourage and engage artists in the presentation of new music and works, whilst also providing a platform for it to be performed and heard. At this time of crisis, the NCH is pleased to have the opportunity to offer a platform to support new and leading female voices, particularly as we approach International Women’s Day, to offer their musical and literary response to the times we live in.”

There has been a welcomed spotlight shone on the Irish music industry this last year as it has become apparent that there is not an equal representation for women. The gender disparity report issued by Why Not Her in November highlighted the huge disparity among the Irish music charts. The report was done by Cian Sullivan, under the supervision of Linda Coogan Byrne and used data from December 7th 2018 to November 6th 2020.

The report stated that in the Official Irish Albums Chart over the last two years, 73 Irish acts entered the charts and only 17 of them were female. It also showed that no female artist has entered the Top 10 Irish Single Chart since 2016, whereas five male acts have spent 51 weeks in the Top 10 with 12 singles over the last two years alone.

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Why Not Her have also created an Action Plan to guide radio stations on how to be more inclusive in their radio play. The action plan is full of statistics for the stations as well as changes that can be made to change the way the industry is treating women, this includes ensuring that the leaders of these companies actively make the commitment to give women more airplay and to set diversity and inclusion targets for the company to follow. The action plan also encouraged the stations to take a look at the research and use this data to diversify teams and create a space for women on their airwaves. The action plan also stated that real change is possible. Since the release of the first gender disparity report, RTÉ 2FM now has 40% parity, SPIN 1038 has 45% parity and BEAT 102 103 has achieved 35%

Watch Notes From A Quiet Land on Saturday, March 6th, at 8pm – streamed on the National Concert Hall YouTube and social media channels.