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“A powerful and personal exploration of gender inequality in electronic music. Samantha Parsley combines academic depth with lived experience to expose the hidden labour women, trans and non-binary artists must do to survive in a male-dominated industry. A vital, original and hopeful call for change that we have all been working so hard for. offering much-needed blueprints for a more inclusive future.” Eve Horne, Founder, We Are The Unheard CIC/Senate & Board Director Ivor's Academy/ BPI Equity & Justice Advisory Group (EJAG) Member </p>
What’s it like to work in the male-dominated world of electronic music? How do women and gender-expansive music producers and DJs thrive despite clubland’s so-called ‘bro culture’? This book combines the author’s personal journey into DJing and music production with insights from a six year immersive research project and interviews with 63 global artists to explore the challenges women and gender-expansive artists face in the industry.
The book tackles common myths around gender, technology and cultural production head on, introducing the concept of ‘ameliorative work’ to recognise the continual and considerable additional work that minoritized genders do in order to succeed.
Engaging, accessible and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in electronic music, the sociology of the contemporary club scene or diversity issues for workers in the creative industries.
Prelude
1. Introduction: Being a Gender Minority in Electronic Music
2. There Aren’t Any Women Producers
3. Good Music Is All That Matters
4. But… Nobody Discriminates!?
5. Positive Action Is Just Not Fair
6. Women Don’t Make Their Own Music
7. Girls Just Aren’t Into Tech
8. Women Just Need To Be More Confident
9. Conclusion and Manifestos for an Inclusive Industry
Appendix. Knowing the Industry Inside-Out
· The first academic study of the careers of women electronic music producers.
· Based on deep qualitative fieldwork, and supplemented with insights from an author who has also been on her own journey as a DJ and electronic music producer.
· Introduces the concept of ‘ameliorative work’ which looks at matters of diversity and inclusion and asks what cultural workers need to do in order to succeed.