Queerness and the music industry: Experience & advice on navigating the biz as an LGBTQ+ artist or businessperson

Our lecturer, David Swartz, describes himself as a queer music manager who has experienced the ambivalences of the music business towards LGBTQ people.

Bottom Line: "Authenticity is key for LGBTQ artists or managers."

• The evolving role of identity politics within contemporary culture, the media, and its impact across the music industry
• A primer on the appropriate terminology and ethics / best practices as it relates to diversity/inclusivity and gender/sexuality
• The current cultural climate we are living in and how one can appropriately leverage their identity to yield opportunities which are uniquely available to non-heternormative and gendering-non-conforming artists
• The tutor's personal experience as a queer manager, who recently launched new management company with a queer business partner as the creative director for the business, representing a roster that is predominantly queer artists (and also of course my experience previously as a queer person working as a manager before launching this new company along with my other previous experience as a booking agent and concert promoter going back to the early 2000s)
• The importance of authenticity for LGBTQ+ artists (in how their narrative is communicated, the visual imagery/content utilized, etc) and the unique value for LGBTQ+ artists in working with LGBTQ+ business people (and some of the emotional / mental health implications therein, as well as the potential of a more meaningful deeper support system)