Lurleen Ladd and her team of Wavemakers are sowing seeds in the cracks of a broken music industry to benefit women musicians over 40. They question the competitive structures they feel have pushed artists like them out of the conversation.
“I wanted to build something where women 40-plus could come and learn about how to be more efficient in this industry,” says Ladd, the organization’s founder. “There’s a gap between the economic opportunities that are available and these artists.”
Ladd sees those opportunities in micro and sync licensing deals, which allow brands to use copyrighted music for a fee, plus other forms of sponsorship or partnership with brands and communities. For this year’s Austin Woman’s Way Business Awards, Ladd worked with Austin Woman to license songs from Wavemakers musicians as walkup tunes. They’re consistently looking for similar ways to “bring the power of music down to small [and] medium local businesses,” as entertainment lawyer Michele Martell puts it. The multitasking nonprofit works as a label, publishing rights organization, and a community events organizer.
This Sunday’s Summer Sonic Social is an exercise in the latter function. The organization invites four musicians with different backgrounds to Radio/East, starting at 2pm. UK-born, Austin-based songwriter Kate Priestley, who makes R&B-inspired music as Lou Priest, will join Emily McLoud, whose serene yet humorous perspective is informed by her work as a palliative care nurse. Woody Guthrie Songwriting Contest winner Claudia Gibson and the soulfully eclectic Susanna Choffel round out the lineup. They’ll exchange songs and stories in what songwriter Wendy Colonna, who’ll act as a conversational host, describes as “a podcast meets a song swap.”
“The artists, I think, need to know that there’s a market for [their work],” says Colonna, Wavemakers’ resident coach/events expert. “It may not look like the dive bar every Tuesday at 10:30pm. It may look like a different way of approaching your business.”
Wavemakers’ seasonal socials and listening events are one of those approaches. Timed to suit a reasonable bedtime, centered around relationship-building, these events are an opportunity for their artists to make valuable photo and video content to promote their work.
“It’s always more than a show, it’s more than a song,” Colonna says. She brings her experience as a touring musician navigating the road and record deals to consultation work for fellow musicians, like Ladd.
A businesswoman-turned-musician, Ladd dove headfirst into musicianship at 37. Leaving the corporate world for a creative path, she wasn’t sure where to turn for industry advice and community. “I thought I was lost because I came late,” she says, “but then I show up, and I find out nobody seems to have it either.”
The Americana singer-songwriter became determined to put her spreadsheet experience and local connections to work, creating resources for musicians her age regardless of how long they’ve been writing. “For women with a body of work in a world that is both misogynistic and increasingly so, and equally youth-obsessed, it’s a tragedy that the body of work of these women isn’t in the spotlight,” she says. Wavemakers has so far given out 11 grants to midlife women musicians, established a growing membership base, and begun to build a library of educational materials made for and by artists like them.
As dedicated as this team is to supporting their specific gender and age demographic, they believe deeply that the voices they platform are powerful in any and every ear. “It’s trite when I say it, but this world needs more happy, fulfilled women,” says Ladd.
This article appears in July 10 • 2026.
