May is New Zealand Music Month; that time of year much derided by indie musicians and propped up by acts that were apparently exciting in 2005.
The point of New Zealand Music Month is to give New Zealand music a little boost, to bring the industry together, and to remind everyone that we have something important to contribute as a nation of hard-working, underpaid musicians. Don't get me wrong, I think New Zealand Music Month has been a good thing and could be a better thing.
But what's nagging at me this year is that there is so much that is wrong with the music industry, both in New Zealand and everywhere else, and there is so little done at a national level to work towards rectifying that. My point is, of course we should celebrate New Zealand music, but we should work on building an industry that is worth celebrating, too.
This year music month follows a series of gut-wrenching revelations made by women in the music industry. The most prominent of these revelations concerned a prominent music blogger and journalist who was accused of preying on and abusing young girls.
When the allegations were first made, people seemed reluctant to act, to cut ties, and to say something. Later, when an article was published in The Spinoff, people started talking, they were suddenly afraid to look complicit. I'm glad the article prompted people to talk, I think it's always best when people are publicly speaking about this sort of thing, because the more we bury it the worse it gets.
I was concerned by the way people were talking. There seemed to be this idea that this man was just one bad egg spoiling things for the rest of us by making the music industry unsafe. People were shocked that this kind of thing would happen in New Zealand, somewhere the music industry and community is so small and insular.
But the truth is that the music industry has never been safe, not anywhere in the world, not for women, not for people of colour, not for anyone who isn't a straight white male. This man was not the first to abuse those with less power and voice than him. He was one of many acting within a system that implicitly allows such behaviour.
I hate to think how many other predators there are in the New Zealand music industry. It's bad enough thinking about how many creeps there are in Dunedin alone. Our industry isn't immune to big scary problems like sexual abuse and rampant systemic discrimination.
We can't only be outraged once or twice a year when something truly horrifying is exposed; we need to be outraged every day until changes are made. New Zealand Music Month, of course, only happens once a year. But it is an opportunity for the industry to come together and discuss things at a nationwide level. Only then can we gain the necessary momentum towards collectively fixing our nasty, insidious problems.
Music Month could refocus, it could really work on making the New Zealand music industry more transparent and more accountable for the areas where it is really letting people down. There are people in New Zealand making incredible music, and that should always be celebrated, and for the most part it is.
But I personally find it very hard to celebrate when I know that the industry is in such a rotten state all over the country. When New Zealand music needed a bigger platform we gave it one with New Zealand Music Month. Now discussions regarding our industry and community need to be given the same attention.
●Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
