{"id":2344312,"date":"2026-03-25T00:45:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2344312"},"modified":"2026-03-25T00:45:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:45:05","slug":"no-ones-tried-this-before-a-new-live-music-roster-aims-to-ensure-opportunities-for-disabled-musicians-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/no-ones-tried-this-before-a-new-live-music-roster-aims-to-ensure-opportunities-for-disabled-musicians-music\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No one\u2019s tried this before\u2019: a new live music roster aims to ensure opportunities for disabled musicians | Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Musician Andrew Lansley hid his autism diagnosis for 10 years, scared of losing opportunities to perform if he asked for the adjustments he needed regarding lighting and noise controls. Now, the double bassist has created the UK\u2019s first roster of disabled musicians, aiming to get artists with disabilities on to lineups and address the career barriers they face.<\/p>\n

Launched today, the UnMute roster has been developed with the hope it will make promoters, venues and festivals more comfortable in booking disabled artists.<\/p>\n

Disabled musicians are paid about \u00a34,000 less per year than non-disabled peers, research shows<\/a>, and almost six in 10 (57%) reported facing career obstacles due to their disability.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>\u2018It\u2019s not about having to tick boxes\u2019 \u2026 UnMute\u2019s Andrew Lansley. <\/span> Photograph: Alice Violet Creative<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just one in three (31%) disabled musicians are open about their condition with everyone they work with, the Musicians\u2019 Union (MU) found in 2024<\/a>. Four in 10 disabled musicians do not share their access requirements with venues, according to 2024 research by Attitude is Everything<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lansley is now creative director of the UnMute roster. \u201cIt\u2019s not about having to tick boxes,\u201d he said. \u201cThe disabled community wants to be seen as an investment, not a cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists can apply to join the roster, which has been organised by event management and production company Global Local <\/a>and Continental Drifts<\/a> \u2013 who have programmed stages at the Glastonbury and Wilderness festivals \u2013 and developed in partnership with the MU and the charity Attitude is Everything, which works to encourage access to music for disabled people.<\/p>\n

When acts get accepted on to the roster, the UnMute team represents them to get bookings and ensure their access needs are met \u2013 using something known as an access rider.<\/p>\n

While rider requests are the stuff of music legend \u2013 from Metallica\u2019s \u201cVERY IMPORTANT\u201d bacon<\/a> to Van Halen\u2019s infamous no-brown-M&M policy<\/a> \u2013 the access rider is a more recent development, a document outlining basic needs that disabled artists can share with venues, introduced by the MU in 2021.<\/p>\n

Lansley began working on the idea after a performance at Glastonbury in 2022, when an engineer at the festival was the only person from 30 venues that summer to ask about his access rider.<\/p>\n

Emma Shaw, who performs as emzae<\/a>, said her disability meant she often turned down gigs. Living with ME and OCD, Shaw requires two people to accompany her and carry her equipment, which can triple travel and accommodation costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the time it\u2019s just: \u2018Sorry, we can\u2019t cover that.\u2019 So I don\u2019t take the opportunity,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cA lot of us have had to shrink ourselves down and pretend we haven\u2019t got any access requirements to be able to get gig bookings.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Speaking for the cause \u2026 the band Drag Syndrome.<\/span> Photograph: Damien Frost<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since joining the UnMute roster, Shaw said she had been booked for her first gig in London. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the highest fee I\u2019ve ever been offered,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cI hope this is part of a movement where it can just become standard over time, so that nobody else coming up ever has to have the worries that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drag Syndrome, a drag collective made up of performers with Down\u2019s syndrome, who have performed at Berghain<\/a> and Glastonbury, announced in 2025<\/a> that they would stop booking new shows in the UK, blaming a lack of funding and a system which \u201cfails disabled artists\u201d.<\/p>\n

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But joining the roster has opened them up to UK bookings once more. \u201cIt\u2019s why we\u2019re collaborating with UnMute, so people with more experience in funding will do it for us,\u201d said Daniel Vais, the group\u2019s creative director. \u201cI got so exhausted. We are leading the way, and the people that are supposed to support [us] refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annalie Huberman-Hertz, who performs as YouGo Boss, said she hoped the roster would \u201cshow everyone what we can do\u201d as disabled artists.<\/p>\n

This January, the Liverpool Sound City festival<\/a> agreed to introduce access riders for all performers.<\/p>\n

Lansley believes the UnMute roster can kickstart progress. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a small cluster of disabled people being able to create national impact by almost using the artist roster as a guinea pig,\u201d Lansley said, adding he hoped it would pave the way for a touring route of accessible venues. \u201cNo one\u2019s tried this before, the knowledge doesn\u2019t exist, so we\u2019re kind of creating as we go along.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n