Martha Bolton: “Real Change Happens When Everyone Moves In The Same Direction”

NOT BAD FOR A GIRL founder Martha Bolton on why balanced lineups start years before the poster, and why "fewer women DJs" doesn't hold up.

Debates about representation in electronic music tend to get heated fast. Comment threads and panel soundbites distort arguments that deserve more space, whether that's about lineup balance, studio access, mentorship or safety.

With that in mind, Attack is starting a four-part series that gives people working on these issues the room to discuss the situation in greater depth. At the heart of the series is a simple question: can we close the gender gap?

The questions remain the same for each interviewee. No one is asking for consensus; that’s impossible. But by opening up the floor, we can help build a broader understanding from other people’s perspectives and experiences.

First up is Martha Bolton, founder of NOT BAD FOR A GIRL, the London-based collective and booking agency built exclusively around women and gender-diverse artists.

Attack: If there are simply fewer women and gender-diverse DJs in the talent pool, is it fair to expect more balanced lineups?

MB: It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation.

If there are fewer women and gender-diverse artists in the talent pool, we have to ask why that is. Is it because the talent doesn’t exist? Or is it because the pathway into the industry hasn’t been equally accessible? Some people like to argue the former, but the research clearly shows it’s the latter.

At NOT BAD FOR A GIRL we’ve worked with hundreds of incredibly talented artists. The challenge isn’t that they don’t exist. It’s that they often haven’t had the same access to opportunities that help build a career, whether that’s studio space, mentorship, early bookings or industry networks.

It’s not just barriers to entry - it’s also the experience people have while they are in the industry. I often say it doesn’t matter how many women you get into a studio if a significant proportion are going to experience sexual harassment or discrimination once they arrive. We know those experiences are far more common than they should be. If people don’t feel safe or respected, it’s no surprise that so many decide this industry isn’t for them.

By the time you’re looking at a festival lineup, all of those experiences have already decided who made it through. So I don’t think lineups exist in isolation. They’re usually a reflection of everything that’s come before them, and just one part of a huge, wide issue.

[quote align=right text="If you spend years looking at line-ups and never seeing anyone who looks like you, or constantly feeling like you have to prove you belong, eventually some people decide the industry just isn’t for them"]

Some promoters would argue that their job is to sell tickets, not to fix structural inequality. What would you say to that?

Ok but this argument misses the point. When did we start positioning diverse lineups in opposition to ticket sales? I think one of the biggest myths in dance music is that women and gender-diverse artists don’t sell tickets. We’ve built an entire business around exclusively booking women and gender-diverse talent. We've performed and run events all over the world, and we’re working with the biggest brands in dance music. So from my experience, that just isn’t true.

I actually think promoters are leaving money on the table. If people don’t see themselves represented behind the decks, they’re less likely to buy a ticket. I’m told this time and time again by our audience.

If your line-up only speaks to one demographic, don’t be surprised when your audience does too.

Can you share a story that shows how inclusion – or the lack of it – has affected someone’s confidence, career path or creative output?

One of my favourite parts of running NOT BAD FOR A GIRL is watching confidence grow. Our open decks are the best things we do, and the energy is always so gorgeous and supportive.

We’ve had artists play their first proper club set with us, and a few months later they’re getting festival bookings, signing music or joining agencies. They didn't suddenly become great DJs overnight; they just finally found a platform that would believe in and support them.

But I see the opposite happening too. If you spend years looking at line-ups and never seeing anyone who looks like you, or constantly feeling like you have to prove you belong, eventually some people decide the industry just isn’t for them.

That’s a huge loss of talent before we’ve even had the chance to hear what they could add to the scene.

[quote align=right text="accountability is less about throwing out one statement, and more about what happens over time"]

What is the creative cost of a narrow industry?

I think dance music suffers when the same voices are given the same opportunities over and over again. This type of music was built on people doing something different, and creating counterculture - that’s a huge part of what draws so many of us in. So if we’re only investing in the same types of artists, we’re limiting what the next generation of dance music sounds like. I see a lot of discourse at the moment about how all music is starting to sound the same, and I think this plays a huge part in that.

It’s also worth remembering that great music doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It’s influenced by the opportunities people have, the people they meet and the environments they are able to create in. If certain groups face more barriers getting into studios, releasing music or building careers, then we’re losing ideas, influences and perspectives that could have defined the future of the scene.

What does accountability look like beyond saying the right thing publicly?

I think accountability is less about throwing out one statement, and more about what happens over time.

For example, are you looking at your booking data? Are you reviewing who’s applying to your opportunities, who’s getting booked and who you are actually progressing? Are you able to listen and act when people tell you something isn’t working?

I don’t think anyone expects perfection overnight. But I do think people notice when organisations are actually trying to improve versus when they’re just knee-jerk responding to criticism. It’s about long-term work away from the public eye, and it’s also about engaging with experts like us to help you make real and lasting change.

Where do you think responsibility currently falls through the cracks, and who needs to step up?

It’s true that responsibility gets passed around a lot, and it’s well known that when nobody is accountable, the work doesn’t get done. Promoters say they can only book who’s available, agencies say they’re responding to demand, labels say they’re signing what’s commercially viable; everyone shirks the responsibility and progress just doesn’t get made.

The reality is everyone has influence over what the industry looks like, and it’s a shared responsibility to create a better future. This is exactly why organisations like NOT BAD FOR A GIRL are so important. We keep the conversation moving, and we’re uniquely positioned to bridge gaps between huge companies at the very top, artists, fans, and everyone in between.

Real change happens when everyone moves in the same direction, and I think organisations like ours have a really important role in making that happen.

Are lineups simply a billboard for deeper issues? If so, where should the real work begin?

I actually think line-ups are the least interesting part of the conversation. They’re just the bit everyone can see.
The real work is everything that happens before that; education, community, safety, networking, first opportunities and artist development.

If we’re only talking about who’s on the poster every summer, we’re already too late. We should be asking what support artists received five years earlier that enabled them to be on that poster in the first place.

That’s why so much of our work happens long before festival season. We run networking events, workshops, open decks, a record label and community initiatives because those are the things that build careers. If we get that part right, more representative line-ups become a byproduct, rather than the objective itself. And we can all stop talking about this and get back to listening to good music!

Follow NOT BAD FOR A GIRL on Instagram. Submit to be an artist on their database here.