Closing the Music History Gender Gap

In medieval southern France, Comtessa de Dia is notable as the sole woman from a rich musical tradition whose melody has survived.

Gabriella Di Laccio encountered an encyclopedia in a London market that listed 6,000 women composers in music history, a figure she found astonishing given her previous knowledge of only about five. This discovery prompted her to launch an initiative to document these musicians, which has since expanded into a foundation that now tracks over 18,000 women composers.

Currently, nearly 90% of the music across all genres is written by men, indicating a substantial gender disparity.

Artificial intelligence systems are trained on existing data, which means they learn from a history that largely excludes the creative contributions of half of humanity. Di Laccio emphasizes that music should be a human creation, not a machine's, and highlights the ethical concerns of using artists' work without their consent or fair compensation.

Recording previously unacknowledged music makes it accessible for searching, teaching, and integration into the systems that influence future listening experiences.

This active inclusion ensures that music is introduced into classrooms, radio broadcasts, and streaming platforms. Di Laccio advocates for AI companies and those profiting from AI-generated music to invest in the completion of the global musical catalog.

Ilse Weber, a poet and singer, was confined in the Theresienstadt ghetto during World War II.

She composed songs to bring comfort to children and the elderly, and her husband managed to preserve her manuscripts by burying them beneath a tool shed. Her story of survival underscores the critical role of intentional preservation in shaping what future generations will remember.