Few leading ladies to take stage at Coachella 2015

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will sound off in Indio this weekend. AC/DC, Jack White and drake will headline the festival both weekends.

With much musical diversity of rock, hip hop and electronic dance music, there’s some gender imbalance among acts. More than 150 acts will hit the stage this weekend, but only 26 will be female-fronted performances by Florence and the Machine and Azealia Banks.

“I feel like being a female in the industry and following music, it’s something we see all of the time. Our playlist here is male dominated,” said Bianca Fort, midday radio host at U-92.7 in Palm Springs.

Fort said competition to be a main stage lady is fierce. Timing, good music and a strong following on social media are necessary, but some standards for male artists are often different.

“It’s not really about how they look, if they can dance and sing, they just make music. With females you have to have that whole package so it’s harder for them to break in the industry. You have to be co-signed with someone or with someone to put your name out there,” said Fort.

“Unless you’re really big like Nicki Minaj. Women typically don’t draw the same crowds. I’m not too sure why that is,” said Scott ‘Lugnut’ Dwyer, radio program director.

Most festival goers don’t seem to mind the gender imbalance.

“People are buying these tickets, they’re becoming sold out before people even know the lineup. People just want to be there,” said Fort.

Will the trend of more men and fewer women continue to play out?

“If music was a forefront, if people weren’t buying until they knew who was coming and that made a big difference, then maybe things would change. I think Coachella alone is going to sell the ticket,” said Fort.

For more information about the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, go to www.coachella.com