{"id":868259,"date":"2025-08-26T23:14:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T04:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/what-the-music-industry-doesnt-talk-about-enough-safety\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T23:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T04:14:32","slug":"what-the-music-industry-doesnt-talk-about-enough-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/what-the-music-industry-doesnt-talk-about-enough-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Music Industry Doesn\u2019t Talk About Enough: Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At a recent club gig in Mumbai, a young lighting assistant was cornered in a green room by a senior crew member. She didn\u2019t speak up\u2014not because she didn\u2019t want to, but because she didn\u2019t know who to go to. \u201cI just had to keep my head down and get the job done,\u201d she anonymously told me. No HR in sight, no complaints desk, and no guarantee of protection. For many in India\u2019s music industry\u2014crew members, session musicians, interns, even artists\u2014this is the reality, and the silence it forces is deafening.<\/p>\n

Unlike corporate environments or film sets, the music industry is built on fragile, informal ecosystems\u2014freelancers, indie promoters, short-term contracts\u2014where power dynamics skew heavily towards those in charge. In such a setup, speaking up isn\u2019t just risky; it can end your career. The unspoken rule is simple: stay quiet, or don\u2019t get called for the next gig. This toxic culture thrives precisely because no one is tasked with safeguarding the people who keep the show running.<\/p>\n

So, where are the safe spaces in music? And why, in 2025, is safety still treated as a privilege rather than a basic right?<\/p>\n

Globally, major festivals and artists have begun addressing this. For instance, Olivia Rodrigo set a new benchmark during her 2024\u201325 Guts World Tour by paying for therapy for her entire touring crew<\/a>, both on and off the road. Her guitarist, Daisy Spencer, called it \u201cone of the coolest things that\u2019s ever happened on tour\u201d and credited it with helping her work through long-standing personal trauma. When a pop star with a 100-show schedule across six continents can prioritize the mental well-being of her team, it\u2019s clear that safety and care are not just possible\u2014they\u2019re overdue. The question is: why can\u2019t Indian promoters and venues, even on a smaller scale, adopt this mindset?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, a few large-scale players are making an effort. BookMyShow Live is one of them. \u201cAt BookMyShow Live, safety is not an afterthought; it is the blueprint on which every event is meticulously constructed,\u201d says Naman Pugalia, Chief Business Officer of Live Events, BookMyShow Live. They adopt international frameworks like the UK\u2019s Green Guide, ensuring crowd control, real-time communication, and better emergency planning. But what stands out is their approach to inclusivity. At Lollapalooza India 2025<\/a>, for example, accessibility and psychological safety were deliberately built into the festival\u2014wheelchair-friendly layouts, shuttle services for those with mobility challenges, and safe zones staffed with trained counsellors. Crew members were sensitized on pronouns, consent, and respectful conduct. These steps may seem obvious, but in India\u2019s live scene, they are revolutionary.<\/p>\n

Similarly, NH7 Weekender<\/a> has long treated safety as part of its DNA, not just a festival checklist. \u201cFor the past 15 years, NH7 Weekender has led the way in inclusivity and equal representation,\u201d says Tej Brar, Head of Festivals at NODWIN Gaming. Their mental health tent, staffed with professionals, is one of the few visible acknowledgements that emotional well-being matters in an environment where people are often pushed to their limits. These measures show what happens when organizers choose responsibility over tokenism.<\/p>\n

Magnetic Fields Festival<\/a>, too, has made emotional welfare a priority with its dedicated Tatva<\/a> tent. I\u2019ve experienced this firsthand\u2014last year, I witnessed a disturbing incident where a couple was fighting on festival grounds. The man kicked his partner in the stomach while she screamed for help. Within minutes, the Tatva team and festival security were on the scene, de-escalating the situation and ensuring she was safe. It was an example of the welfare system working exactly as it should. But I was equally shocked to see the abusive attendee allowed back into the event the next morning, as if nothing had happened. Safety protocols cannot just be about responding in the moment\u2014they need to be followed through with accountability and clear consequences.<\/p>\n

Rahul Ganjoo, CEO of District by Zomato, emphasizes that safety protocols at their events are treated with the same rigor as production and performance. \u201cWe take incidents of physical harassment extremely seriously. Our certified SOP ensures a swift, sensitive, and effective response: victims are offered immediate medical assistance, a designated safe space, and the autonomy to decide next steps\u2014including whether to file a formal complaint,\u201d he says. This level of proactive care should be standard, but all too rarely is.<\/p>\n

Globally, the blueprint for crew and fan welfare is expanding. Beyonc\u00e9 reportedly prepared crew-wide mental health support services during her Renaissance World Tour\u2014an acknowledgment that touring can take serious emotional tolls and must be managed proactively. Coldplay\u2019s Chris Martin<\/a> has publicly emphasized mental wellness practices like meditation and journaling, while the band has implemented wellness initiatives to support its team on tour. Beyond individual artists, organizations such as Backline in the U.S. now connect artists and tour crews to vetted mental healthcare providers attuned to the pressures of touring life. Similarly, nonprofits like MusiCares and HeartSupport offer continuous wellness services for music professionals, not just during events but throughout the year.<\/p>\n

In India specifically, for every Lollapalooza India, NH7 Weekender, or Magnetic Fields, there are hundreds of smaller indie shows, club nights, and college festivals that have no harassment policies, no trained first responders, no accessible infrastructure, and no mental health support. Green rooms remain unmonitored, and tours often run with minimal oversight, making them breeding grounds for toxic behavior. Many artists and crew members still recount experiences where inappropriate behavior was brushed aside as \u201cpart of the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the truth: safety isn\u2019t a luxury reserved for artists with Olivia Rodrigo-level budgets. It\u2019s about priorities. Even small shows can have a designated safe point of contact, staff trained on consent, and emergency protocols in place. It\u2019s about seeing crew members and fans as humans, not just disposable cogs in a machine.<\/p>\n

Music is supposed to be a sanctuary\u2014a space where people feel free, connected, and understood. But when an artist can\u2019t step backstage without worrying about harassment, or a young woman working her first gig has to keep her head down to avoid trouble, we have to ask ourselves: what kind of industry are we building?<\/p>\n

Until we stop treating safety as an afterthought and start embedding it into every level of live music, from the tiniest pub gigs to the biggest festivals, all our talk of a \u201cprogressive\u201d music scene is just lip service. If artists like Olivia Rodrigo can build therapy into the very fabric of a world tour, and festivals from Coachella to Magnetic Fields are designing mental health safe zones, there\u2019s no excuse for the rest of the industry to do less. Because after all, if the industry can pour millions into pyro, LED walls, and headline acts, why can\u2019t it invest the same energy into protecting its people?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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At a recent club gig in Mumbai, a young lighting assistant was cornered in a green room by a senior crew member. She didn\u2019t speak up\u2014not because she didn\u2019t want to, but because she didn\u2019t know who to go to. \u201cI just had to keep my head down and get the job done,\u201d she anonymously<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":868260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[648,442],"tags":[7377,6406],"class_list":{"0":"post-868259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-industry","8":"category-music","9":"tag-industry","10":"tag-music"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}