Gemma Cairney thinks the music industry has become a “fairer place”.
The 36-year-old DJ has praised the way in which artists’ welfare has become increasingly more important and musicians have gained more control of their careers.
She said: “I think that perhaps that the music industry has become hopefully a fairer place. I think a lot of questions have been raised as to the industry side of it. How hard are a pop star’s team working? And how much do they want to do? And how much days they have in their careers?
“I think that a lot has been exposed and sort of been flipped over upon in terms of a conversation about streaming, or image.
“I think that there’s discussions being had that have never been had before, which are a much more kind of caring and respectful of the artists themselves.”
Gemma praised the BRIT Awards with Mastercard for making a shift to gender neutral categories.
She said: “I think gender neutrality is a good thing. I think we should be accepting people as individuals. And the less we focus on the specifics and expectancies of gender, the better because often what you find statistically, and the research will tell us that actually, the more we divide, the harder it is, for those that choose to identify as women.
“If we smash some of the boxes in the category, then that’s a step forward.”
Gemma’s latest project with Mastercard sees her mentoring The BRIT School students on their creative work through #ShoutOut in partnership with The BRIT Awards and, as a former student there herself, she admitted she was “proud” to get involved because the establishment will always hold a “special place” in her heart.
She said: “I have a special place in my heart for those years at the BRIT School. I think the world is very different now.
“But at the same time, I had my own kind of personal liberation by attending a free performing arts school and, seeking I guess there’s a difference as to what was available to me with regard to mainstream education. And it really was a defining institute for me in most formative years.
“So it was a pleasure to and I felt quite proud to be asked to be a mentor. I think if you told me little that I would be given that opportunity. And I would have a career that was deemed successful enough to be seen as somebody that, that the younger versions of me could learn from.”