Shay, Zaho de Sagazan, Adèle Castillon, Clara Luciani … Despite some main artists every year, in the scene of festivals, artists and groups composed mainly of women seem very minorities in programming.
And it is not just an impression: BFMTV.com has projected the 2025 posters of the 25 most frequented festivals in France. As a result, female singers and groups occupy only a quarter of the programming. A figure that reveals a persistent imbalance, despite a growing awareness of the musical sector.
A structural imbalance
Despite the greatest visibility of certain artists in recent years, female have been scarce. In 2025, only 3 singers appeared among the 10 best artists scheduled at the festival, just 30% against 70% of male artists.
According to Pierre Paury, in charge of the programming of the Rochelle Francofolies, the problem not only comes from the festivals, but testifies an imbalance since the beginning of the chain of artistic creation.
Because according to the figures of the National Music Center (CNM), only 18% of the members of SUTEM are “registered as women in 2023”, or 34,324 creators in 192,122 people.
“We are the stations, we are a little at the end of the channel. We depend on the number of female artists who enter the music market, the number of artists who will then be signed on a label and represented in the music sector through labels and editors and the exhibition offered by the media to these artists,” Pierre Pauly told BFMTV.com.
Being “at the end of the creation process”, the programmer who has been in charge of the alignment of Francofolies since 2019, therefore, he considers that it is difficult to respect the parity in the programming, even if the festival is approaching.
A sector monopolized by male artists
And like La Rochelle Francofolies, which this year presented 41% of female artists and 1% of women for 44% of male artists and 8% of male groups in their programming, more and more festivals try to reverse the tendency to address parity.
Since 2022, rock at Seine Festival is more rigorous in the composition of its musical posters, such as Matthieu Ducos, managing director of the festival notes. . This year, female artists represent just over 30% of the event programming.
“Even if things change a lot today, we have been for many decades in a sector where current music, pop rock, was monopolized by the main male artists”
“This is the fourth edition now where we really ask ourselves to objects every year that come to a joint or not far program,” he continues.
Where things are complicated for festivals is when it comes to programming head female. Finding installed artists available without giving an impression of redundancy to the public becomes a true headache, especially for certain more specific musical styles such as metal or rap.
In 2025, in Hellfest, of 183 artists and groups, only five female artists and six mainly feminine groups were part of the festival’s programming, while at the Rose Festival, mainly rap events, more than 70% of the programmed artists are men or male groups.
“Once we have done Juliette Armant, Clara Luciani, Angèle, Santa or Hoshi, there are no more installed artists capable of attracting enough people,” says Pierre Pauly.
Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish in the record
To try to guarantee parity in its programming, certain festivals such as Rock in Seine opt for international artists. This year, the event begins on August 20 with singer Chappell Roan, star of the American music scene.
“For three years, we opened the festival with a female titra. This year, it is Chappell Roan. Last year was Lana del Rey, the year before Billie Eilish was. So the headlines of the heads, even if they are not in most,” said the director of the Matthieu Ducos festival.
But calling international artists has an award. In 2023, Rock organizers in Seine had spent more than 1.5 million euros, according to Le Parisien, to pay Billie Eilish’s presence.
If the festival, fundamental by the private media combat group that belongs to the business banker of Mathieu Pigasse, could pay for such an expense, for other association events, this type of investment remains out of reach, especially in the face of the increase in the characteristics of the artists.
“We are not completely on the same scales as a festival carried by the Nation live or by private producers. Therefore, when they can leave the disconnected updates of economic realities, of the 100,000 or 150,000 euros, for an artist, who necessarily raises difficulties of the United States,” he entrusted BFMTV.com in December 2024.
Make emerging artists
To restore an appearance of parity, certain events depend on the female succession, supporting emerging artists, particularly through accompaniment devices designed to support women in the music industry.
Since 1998, Francofolies have established, for example, the Francofolies site, a springboard that highlights the new trends of the French scene, where organizers have won a parity in selected artists.
“We have the hand to decide that there will be 50% of men, 50% of women, hoping that all this support and development work is that we have even more female artists at the top of the festival posters in the coming years,” said Pierre Pauly.
“We see that it is paying fruit: we have recent examples with Zaho de Sagazan, Yoa, Santa and others … but it is the whole sector to make the necessary efforts and be more attentive to push enough women to accompany them in their career in their hopes that they will become heads,” adds the programmer.
A parity even out of the reach of some
In recent years, the sector, however, has tended to mobilize to improve the representation of women in programming. Without being a generalized obligation, certain public bodies in the sector, such as the National Music Center (CNM), now make the presence of female artists in the poster of a festival one of the conditions of access to financial aid.
Among the criteria taken into account by the CNM commission for the allocation of its assistance to the festivals, the programming of an event must “include at least 30 % of women or people of gender minorities, both at the head of the poster and in all artistic trays,” the organization said in place.
A lever for change, but still penalizes the smallest festivals, according to Pierre Paury: “In Franco, we have more than 100 artists scheduled so that we can compose only a small festival with a dozen possible places to whom we impose this quota, this can weaken it economically.”
“From one year to the next, the organizers may not find enough female artists or emerging artists and not necessarily with headlines, and therefore can sell less tickets in addition to having less help,” added the programmer.
In spite of everything, the programmer of the Franclofolies remains optimistic for the future of female artists at festivals. “The will is shared by many within the sector and there are also real expectations of the public about this balance, so I prefer to have the impression that it is being implemented and that it is only a matter of time before reaching parity in programming.”
Source: BFM TV
