A number of high-profile music industry organisations have signed a Seat At The Table inclusion pledge – a new sector-wide commitment to achieving gender-balanced leadership by 2030.
It follows the release in April of the Seat At The Table: LIVE Edition 2025, a new report from Women In CTRL, commissioned by LIVE (Live Music Industry Venues & Entertainment).
This pledge is a new, sector-wide commitment to improving gender and intersectional ethnic diversity in senior leadership across the UK live music industry. All 15 LIVE member organisations have now signed the pledge, setting their own measurable goals and committing to annual progress check-ins and sector-wide learning.
The new signatories include a range of organisations, with ATC Live and Ginger Owl among the first to join.
In addition, companies including the Royal Albert Hall, AEG and The O2 have stepped up as industry champions of the pledge. As supporters of the pledge, industry champions will contribute case studies and resources to share learning across the sector, participate in future roundtables and peer learning sessions.
“Their participation and collaboration are key to strengthening accountability and accelerating progress across the live music ecosystem,” said a statement.
The pledge also aligns with LIVE’s 2030 inclusion targets, which include 50% women & non-binary representation and 16% women from global majority backgrounds in leadership roles.
The organisations who have signed the pledge as well as our industry champions will be key to helping to shape what inclusion looks like in practice across the live music ecosystem
Gaby Cartwright
Signatories have also committed to submitting an annual ‘light-touch’ progress check-in, sharing key focus areas and actions being taken and contributing to peer learning and sector-wide collaboration.
As part of this, the pledge framework encourages organisations to identify and act on specific areas of focus such as strengthening governance and board diversity through reviews, co-opting members, and introducing reserved seats or term limits.
Other areas of action include developing inclusive recruitment and leadership pipelines, establishing mentoring schemes, updating policies and hiring practices. Many organisations are also committing to greater diversity across programming, rosters and line-ups.
Gaby Cartwright, head of partnerships at LIVE, said: "This is the first time the live music industry has come together in this way, and the first time it has collectively committed to measurable inclusion targets. We want to position the Seat At The Table Inclusion pledge as a proactive, collective shift from data to delivery.
“The report and the pledge are the foundation, but the real story is about who is taking action and how the sector is evolving together. The organisations who have signed the pledge as well as our industry champions will be key to helping to shape what inclusion looks like in practice across the live music ecosystem.”
Nadia Khan, Founder of Women In CTRL, said: “This new initiative moves beyond data to support long-term change through collective accountability, shared learning, and recognition of best practice. The launch of the Seat At The Table Inclusion pledge in tandem with the industry champion programme marks a new phase of action and aims to build long-term capacity, especially by supporting smaller organisations who may not yet have formal ED&I structures in place.
“This is not a static commitment, it has been set up to be a living framework designed to grow with the sector and evolve alongside ongoing conversations around leadership, culture and representation.”
PHOTO: (L-R) Gaby Cartwright and Nadia Khan
