18. December 2025
Only 11% of the money Koda pays out goes to women music creators. However, growth in both membership and payouts to new female members offers hope of a more balanced gender split in the years ahead. Koda Chair Loui Törnqvist describes this year’s gender statistics as a small step in the right direction and stresses that efforts to achieve a better gender balance must be stepped up.
Danish music continues to be marked by a skewed gender balance. Just 11% of the money Koda distributes goes to women music creators. This represents only a marginal increase compared with last year. Further, as was also the case last year, there are still no women featured in any of the top 10 lists of Koda’s largest payout categories, including streaming, radio, TV and live performances.
Koda’s latest gender statistics paint the same picture.
The report does, however, point to small signs of improvement. The share of women joining Koda has increased by 43% since 2015, and over a number of years there has been a clear rise in women’s share of payouts among new members. Finally, the report shows that women’s share of streaming payouts among new members has also increased.
Koda Chair Loui Törnqvist says:
“This year’s gender statistics offer hope for a future with a better gender balance in Danish music. It’s an important step in the right direction. But if these positive trends are to continue, the music industry’s targeted efforts to improve gender balance must be maintained – and intensified,” says Loui Törnqvist.
Alongside these positive signs, this year’s gender statistics unfortunately also show that women’s share of total payouts drops sharply once women reach their 40s. The same pattern is not seen among men.
“It’s genuinely encouraging that the proportion of women among new members continues to rise year on year, and that payouts within this group are increasing. But we also have to recognise that this will only make a real difference if the positive change is reflected in the highest-earning tiers – and if women do not face barriers as they reach their 30s and 40s. If the positive momentum we are currently seeing in Danish music is to be strengthened, we need a sharper focus on retaining female talent and on their opportunities for continued career development,” says Loui Törnqvist.
This is the sixth consecutive year that Koda has published gender statistics. The statistics are based on membership and payout data from Koda’s more than 52,000 members.
Key figures
Koda is a music rights organization with more than 51,000 members consisting of composers, songwriters, and music publishers.
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