Girls just want to have fun: the growing of female DJs representation

The 2021 IMS Business Report has just come out and brings us the most trending topics in the industry. One of them is inevitably gender equality in the artist community and female DJs representation. The art of DJing and music production is genderless, and the knobs and faders are equally sensitive to male and female hands. Even so, there is still some imbalance in the representation of DJs today with regards to gender.

The good news is that, despite everything, female representation is growing, but there is still a long way to go. To discuss the results, it is worth remembering that the source of IMS is the analysis of Google Search data for artists appearing in the DJ Mag Top 100 in a given year and who are identifiable in Google Search data. In 2020, the public voted 13 female DJs into DJ Mag Top 100. This was a generous rise considering that in 2019 only 8 were voted in, in 2018 only 6 and in 2017 only 4. However, these are baby steps towards more equal percentages compared to male artists. Of the 13 female artists represented in the top, 5 are new entries, depicting the emergence of more and more women in the industry. NERVO continue to be a featured duo, being represented in this ranking for the ninth time.

Image via: IMS Business Report page 90

Although globally the industry is attracting more and more women into the studios and behind the decks, if you look at the map the patch is not at all uniform. Fan research for female artists is not global at all. Europe appears to be the most female-friendly continent. Countries such as the Netherlands. Germany and Spain have seen substantial growth over the last three years, a trend that seems to be slowly catching up with neighbouring countries, as the chart above makes it seem.

The industry seems to be gradually becoming a more balanced and openly female-populated environment. We want to continue to see a growing trend towards gender equality. Certainly, this is another area where 2021 will bring significant change. We will see the evidence for this in next year’s report. For now, take a look at this year’s here.

Image Credit: Charlotte de Witte (via Facebook)