Magazine

Don’t be a Clown, Take Women Seriously

DJ Mag – the main magazine in the world of EDM has turned 25. And we are very happy for them, except there is a problem with the cover. It features “Twenty-five Pioneers” of electronic music, and they are all men. DJ Mag has already let us know that there are 3,5 no women on the scene by their Top 100 DJS, which is questionable as always. This time they had Martin Garrix at No3, and he’s like what, 14? (We know he is 19, whatever). The guy has produced one doubtful dance hit, which made him an international superstar hitting festivals, giving interviews and earning millions.

The magazine has asked the “Why there are so few female DJs on the list?” question to some DJs and here is what some of them said:

Frontliner: “Because maybe they spent too much time in Sephora and too little time on producing?”
Yeah, right, who are you by the way?

Mike Candys: “I guess it’s easier for guys to entertain people, especially at festivals. DJs need to be powerful, loud and outgoing – although I should point out that there are some great female DJs too.”
A good one to follow up the news about tINI playing back to back with Bill Patrick for 31 hours at Sunwaves festival.

We, the underground music-heads don’t know much about EDM, but we read that Borgore is considered to be the most outrageously chauvinist artist, but look what he said:
“The same reason there aren’t as many women celebrated in top positions in other industries: systematic discrimination.”

Wow, thank you. Discrimination does run in the world. The world of electronic music is not an exception even if you’re not spinning records. How many times has each female promoter, booker or tour manager been harassed by a male DJ she hosted? I guess, many. Been there, felt that. How many times has a female DJ had to feel that she’s been booked just because she is a woman? Many. Sometimes, the promoters don’t even listen to the mixes, they just book a DJ for their party because she’s cute and when she comes with a bag full of, let’s say, dark techno, he is surprised and asks if she has something more fun. And she goes like:
“Did you listen to my mix?” and he says: “No, I didn’t, I was looking for a cute girl and a friend told me about you”. Get real, man.

A straight-on the point one from Krewella:
“The electronic music industry can be daunting for women. If more women are willing to take big risks and be unafraid of the ridicule, double standards, and any other setbacks or troubles, we will (hopefully) slowly start to see more women releasing electronic music, playing shows and festivals, and thus ending up on the Top 100.”
But excuse me, women play huge festivals, release electronic music, but they rarely end up on Top 100.
Where is DJ Rap on the cover of this anniversary edition? Does DJ Mag need a reminder of what legend she is having started in 1987 and still active, being a producer who is signed to Sony etc?

Or maybe they forgot about Miss Kittin, Maya Jane Coles, Ellen Allien, Nina Kraviz? Oh, probably they also spent most of their time at Sephora instead of releasing numerous hits and making a huge impact into the scene we know now? They don’t have to prove anything, they are respected producers, hard-touring DJs and yes, women. But they constantly get reminded that they do have to prove something. Like that time when Kraviz had to argue her right to be a beautiful woman AND a DJ. Or like this time, when there are no women on the cover of DJ Mag.

In one interview, Ellen Allien was asked: “What is it like to be a woman in the male-dominated industry?”. She said that every time she gives an interview to a foreign media, they would ask her that. And when she is in Berlin, nobody does. They don’t care.
“What does a woman feel in the male-dominated industry” is already a discriminating question. And the answer is that you don’t get booked instead of being a girl, but you get booked because you are a girl. That’s what the problem is. And there should be more women like tINI, Nicole Moudaber, Nina, Hito, Magda, Cassy, Tama Sumo, Maayan Nidam and others to brake the stigma.

There should be honest acceptance of the fact that there are women in the industry, who can sweep off most of those top-100 artists with a blink of their Sephora-covered eyelashes. Just because they have to work three times harder to first show that they exist and then prove their right to be on scene, daily.

The Black Madonna has started a female-only party line to prove the feminist point, there is a feminist movement in Mexican electronic music. But do they help? The all-female lineups are great, but they don’t always help. Placing the women in one group and calling them Female DJs is already a hint of discrimination. Because I think, that there shouldn’t be Shejay top 100s and all that, there should be honest acceptance of the fact that there are women in the industry, who can sweep off most of those top-100 artists with a blink of their Sephora-covered eyelashes. Just because they have to work three times harder to first show that they exist and then prove their right to be on scene, daily.

I remember the times when I started working in the industry and found out about all those women in Techno. What I remember the best is that every time I started a talk with someone about one of them, I heard: “Yeah, she doesn’t write her music, … (insert a name) does that for her.” Why the hell, why? Did you see that? Did you write that music? Did she tell you? When Nina Kraviz started her journey to the big scene, every male DJ in Moscow considered it a must to say that she doesn’t write music and just knows how to flirt. Two things – WTF and look now, where she is and where you are. And I know for sure that you don’t know how to write music and I have seen Nina working, not flirting.

The chauvinist nature of Pop scene has already crashed. Of course, Beyonce and Rihanna shake their booties, but they also occupy the charts for weeks and months. In 2014, the first five spots of Billboard top 100 were occupied by women. Not their booties. Let’s wait for that to happen in our world.