Career 14th June 2018 by Yazmine Lomax
Haim Fired Their Agent After Finding Out They Were Paid Ten Times Less Than A Male Artist
*giant eyeroll*
We’ve long heard about the gender pay gap in the film industry – Oscar-winner and the world’s highest paid actress, Emma Stone, famously revealed that her male co-stars have had to take pay cuts so she could have parity, and we were all gobsmacked when we found out that Claire Foy was paid less for her work on The Crown than on-screen husband Matt Smith despite portraying the titular role.
But now the spotlight has turned to music industry with sister trio Haim claiming that they fired their booking agent when they discovered they were paid just one-tenth as much as a male artist playing the same festival.
“We had been told that our fee was very low because you played at the festival in the hope you’d get played on the radio,” frontwoman Danielle Haim said in a recent interview with Grazia magazine. ”We didn’t think twice about it, but we later found out that someone was getting paid ten times more than us. And because of that we fired our agent.”
“That’s why I love my sisters so much,” youngest sister Alana added. “I trust them with my f**king life. We’re all in this together.”
While the Grammy-nominated group didn’t reveal the name of the festival and are more confident their current agent will secure them fair deals, they still feel the need to double-check every deal because the industry isn’t transparent with artists about money.
Danielle explains, “It’s so hard to check: everything’s so secretive about how much people are getting paid, and that’s bullshit.”
The Los Angeles rockers have also previously spoken out about their desire to see more women in music.
“We do see women working in the studios but we want to see more. It’s a quantity issue,” said Danielle. “There’s so many amazing women that work in music and I think it’s time more girls looked into being engineers and studio technicians.”
But bassist Este pointed out that biz doesn’t always welcome gals with open arms… or, eh, loos.
“We’ll go to alternative radio stations in the States and there won’t even be a girls’ restroom,” she revealed. “That’s a clear indication that something needs to change.”