by | Future Female Sounds, Lady of the House, and #FORTHEMUSIC are co-recipients of a $100,000 investment from The Beatport Group to accelerate gender parity across the greater DJ music industry. The initiative was announced in April of this year and received an overwhelming response from the global community. All three entities emerged from a group of more than a dozen submissions from innovative companies and entrepreneurs in the industry, all of whom care deeply about the current inequities rampant in the music industry.
Future Female Sounds is a female-founded and led non-profit organization and global community, founded in 2017 with the mission of making DJ culture accessible to women and gender minorities globally. Future Female Sounds provides emerging and established DJs with skills, access to opportunities, and serves as a community platform for thousands of DJs. Based in Copenhagen with DJ programs in Paris, Berlin, Cairo, and Tunis – their latest initiative ‘FFS ONLINE DJ ACADEMY’ is a new training platform focused exclusively on training female and gender minority DJs through creating safer space learning environments with their professional instructors and mentors. The grant will allow Future Female Sounds to support DJs around the world who lack access to physical workshops and spaces. UK based winner, Lady of the House is a community that educates, empowers and diversifies the music industry through their multifunctional platform. Lady of the House began as a groundbreaking book that tells the stories of 150 pioneering women in the music industry including Charlotte de Witte, Jocelyn Brown, Nina Kraviz, Ultra Naté and many more, with a special foreword from Carl Cox. Lady of the House has also curated discussions and showcases at conferences and festivals worldwide including International Music Summit and Bestival, as well as activating with global brands such as Redbull, Beatport, Pioneer DJ and Spinnin’ Records. In their role as contributors to the recent Jaguar Foundation and Sony Social Justice and Equality Fund Gender Progression in Dance Music report, Lady of the House is respected for its expertise in diversity and inclusion. With the grant, Lady of the House will invest in a number of female and non-binary artists through their artist development program, act as their label, and serve as a pipeline for emerging talent by giving female and non-binary artists a platform and a network of music industry experts. The Metoo Music platform and #FORTHEMUSIC is a campaign against sexual harassment and assault in the industry created by Rebekah Teasdale and Pia Micallef. #FORTHEMUSIC’s short film When The Music Ends follows several sexual assault victims through a night out, and details the various scenarios of harassment and assault each protagonist encounters. The film aims to show the hard reality of staying silent on assault while acting as a powerful education instrument for its audiences. Continuing on its mission to provide the next generation of creators, artists, DJs and producers with innovative tools to empower their creative process, Beatport believes this investment into groundbreaking companies can help propel the industry forward by providing a more inclusive and welcoming environment for female and non-binary artists to realize their DJ ambitions. Though progress has been made in the way of diversity and equality in the music industry, McDaniels acknowledges Beatport’s unique position to serve as leaders of change in the global DJ community. This past April at International Music Summit, Ibiza, McDaniels pledged $100,000 to the best idea or ideas to accelerate gender parity during his “Road To Recovery” keynote address. |
Future Female Sounds, Lady of the House, and #FORTHEMUSIC are Co-Recipients of Beatport’s $100,000 Gender Parity Initiative
