You can go to venues that only have twenty people in them, and the people that are playing there are just incredible. But it’s just so difficult to cut through all of the noise.
Sophie Edwards
Many young Canberrans dream of making it big in the music scene.
But as accomplished singer/songwriter and Young Australian of the Year nominee Sophie Edwards knows, this is a notoriously difficult achievement.
Showing a passion for music from early childhood, Sophie knew she wanted to pursue a career in music, originally studying a jazz degree in university. But during her time there she discovered her true calling: writing and performing songs of her own.
Now after having completed her Masters of Songwriting and Production at Berklee College of Music in New York, and winning the Triple J Unearthed Spilt Milk competition in 2023, her thriving career is going from strength to strength.
But the road to success is never easy, especially for young women like Sophie.
“Being unsafe in a venue was just seen as normal, and seen as like a right of passage. It’s just kind of expected that you’re gonna experience things that maybe you shouldn’t be.”
Several independent studies conducted in recent years reflect this general sentiment.
An extensive independent review, conducted by MAPN Consulting in 2022, found that over half of the Australian artists interviewed had experienced sexual harassment. Of those, almost two thirds identified as either female or non-binary.
A similar study, conducted by the University of Technology Sydney this year, found that sexism and misogyny was by far the leading barrier to female and non-binary artists’ success.
And so, after Sophie and many of her friends struggled to land gigs in what is clearly still a male-dominated industry, they decided to band together. They formed ‘She’s On the Bill’ – a group that organises gigs for women and non-binary artists.
“We saw it as a really great way for artists who maybe haven’t had their first gig but are making really great music, who aren’t male, to have a really safe space to try things out.”
Inclusivity and support of newcomers is something that has been at an all time low since the beginning of her music career. And this isn’t just the sentiment Canberra, as Sophie has found.
While studying for her masters in New York, Sophie experienced first hand the struggles rising musicians in big cities face.
In the city that never sleeps, the music scene is fiercely competitive, which makes it nearly impossible for most artists to make a living off doing gigs alone.
Making this even harder is the lack of supportive programs for new artists such as Triple J Unearthed, which has contributed to Sophie’s success in Australia.
She laments how musicians in the US are just encouraged to try and become TikTok famous, with even one of the courses in her masters degree all about making good TikToks.
“If you say ‘no I’m not gonna play for free’ there’s a hundred people that would just because they want the opportunity to perform and they’re trying to cut through, and ‘you never know who might be in the crowd blah blah blah’… but like there’s no one in the crowd.”
That is why one of the core values of She’s On the Bill is fair pay for everyone involved. Sophie and her team strive to ensure that every performing artist and venue technician gets a cut of ticket sales.
A general lack of funding seems to be a persisting issue throughout the industry, with an intergenerational disconnect between the government and young musicians being a key contributor, says Sophie.
The ACT provides Arts Activities Funding yearly through a grants process, with this years’ budget being approximately $900,000. Looking at the artsACT website, that would be about 100 to 200 total recipients spread across all arts activities in Canberra.
Although she has submitted several applications, Sophie is yet to succeed in receiving one of these grants.
She speculates that in such a competitive industry with relatively little funding, who ends up receiving a grant often comes down to the formality of applications alone.
“I feel like I can’t speak ‘public servant’ to be able to get the grant. And I don’t have a formal enough application to even be considered, and so often it’s similar groups or similar people or people who can afford someone to write the grant for them.”
As one of the youngest members of the Minister for Arts’ Creative Council, making sure funding for the arts is going to the right places is something Sophie is very passionate about.
She explains the ACT government’s plight to appeal to younger audiences, however the events they end up funding often miss the mark.
Sophie is currently trying to encourage the government to work with existing venues that have large young audiences already. With the appropriate funding, says Sophie, these popular brands could do a lot more to introduce younger generations to new and exciting music.
Despite the hardships she has faced, Sophie, and many emerging artists like her, are at the forefront for change in the music industry.
She praises rising artists like Charlie XCX and Chappell Roan, who are both newly popular female musicians providing fresh and unique perspectives through their music.
“If you see the most popular artists at the moment, or at least the ones that are kind of rising like Chappell Roan, it’s all people that have different perspectives that we aren’t used to hearing, and they’re making their way up because people are excited about something new for a change.”
Now going through her 20s as a successful young artist, Sophie looks back fondly on her early years as a fledgling singer/songwriter, with many more opportunities for her career on the horizon.
Photos by Abigail Graham
Where to find Sophie:
Instagram – @sophieedwardsmusic
Apple Music – Sophie Edwards
Spotify – Sophie Edwards