With this series, we bring together the experiences and perspectives of women and non-binary people in the music business. In 2025, we take a look behind the scenes and focus on the people beside the musicians. Regardless of quotas, so-called categories or classifications, it takes 100% of us to stand up for feminism to have the greatest impact.
How and where did you gain experience in the music industry?
Smaranda Krings: I started out in 2015/16 when I helped organize charity concerts and club events for good causes. It was a great introduction to the scene because everyone involved was fully behind it and simply wanted to make a positive impact with their music. It wasn’t about any deals, you didn’t have to deal with the injustices in the music industry, it was just about having a good time and raising money for charity.
In 2020, Mwita Mataro approached me and wanted to implement a music showcase format – we called it QMA On Stage. It was integrated into the QMA initiative, which I had already co-founded in 2019. In the following years, there were showcases at the WAVES VIENNA festival and at Villa Lala. The format has now mutated into a music residency. Every year, we invite three acts to spend a week with us in the studio at Fiakka Studios and learn from invited mentors or work with selected producers. I have gained valuable insights and learned a lot from colleagues like Mbatjiua Hambira and Tonica Hunter. During one of these residencies, I also got to know the musician Chovo, who I have been managing ever since.
Did you have role models around you that you could look up to? What role models do women in the music industry currently have?
Smaranda Krings: I have learned a lot from Mwita Mataro. As friends and colleagues, we have experienced a lot together in recent years and I always admire how he manages to create connections in a music industry that is otherwise very competitive. He creates opportunities for others and lives by the motto that you can only get far if you take everyone with you.
“To promote solidarity, it’s first important to realize that there is a need for it.”
But the musician Chovo, who I manage, is also a role model for me. Although she has only been releasing music for two years, she does it with a level of naturalness and power that is second to none. I can feel that in the collaboration, but I think the fans notice it too. She shows that anything you set your mind to is possible.
How can women support each other and promote solidarity in their professional environment?
Smaranda Krings: In order to promote solidarity, it is first important to realize that there is a need for it. There are still many women and non-binary people who believe that the difficulties they have in a scene are specifically due to them. It’s important to realize that these are structural problems. Most of the professional music industry is an all-boys club and it’s hard to make it as a woman. What we need is an all-girls club, spaces where women and non-binary people support each other. It can’t hurt if there comes a time when women are disproportionately represented at festivals, where more attention is drawn to them. It will gradually settle down again anyway.
Solidarity can also mean finding out who else has been approached for bookings and making contact there. The fees offered can then be discussed together and the group can insist on fair pay. It’s important to set standards here, even if that means it might compromise your personal position in some way.
“It can’t hurt if there comes a time when women are disproportionately represented at festivals, where more attention is drawn to them.”
As a woman, you don’t always have to be nice and sweet, as we were all brought up to believe. It’s important to train yourself to be tough sometimes. And if a man reacts badly to this, well, you don’t want to have anything to do with someone like that anyway. Sharing these experiences with other women and drawing each other’s attention to problematic men is important and a good way to show solidarity.
Because we all know that musicians have a hard time making a living from their music and many other players in the industry are also struggling. But in my opinion, promoters and bookers should be driven by their love for music and musicians. They should be the first to fight for better working conditions. It’s clear that this is difficult and that many factors play a role, but just seeing that someone is making an effort is worth a lot.
“Very few men take the trouble to reflect on their own masculinity and thus reproduce their dominance to a greater or lesser extent in their professional environment.”
What can you do better than a man in the industry?
Smaranda Krings: Working with female musicians. Very few men take the trouble to reflect on their own masculinity and thus reproduce their dominance to a greater or lesser extent in their professional environment; in close collaboration with female musicians, however, this would be very important. An appreciative and considerate environment is important to encourage creativity and bring out the best in female musicians.
Smaranda Krings is a Vienna-based cultural manager and curator with many years of experience at the intersection of art, music and social issues. She specializes in project design, management and production with a focus on sustainable community building. She is active in the expert pool of D/Arts, in the project management of QMA and works as a freelance music manager and curator for various projects. She co-founded QMA on stage with Mwita Mataro and is the manager of the musician Chovo.
Translated from the German original by Arianna Alfreds.