55 Female Artists Involved in the Hypnotic Techno Scene

Apolline GuedonDecember 14, 2020

The place of female artists in the electronic music scene is an important subject that regularly comes up in the media. Nevertheless, in the hypnotic techno scene, this topic hasn’t appeared so much across the various dedicated platforms.

This article is meant to raise awareness about gender-balance and diversity. In exploring the evolution of female artists in the techno industry, this text will expose some information regarding different social transformations, from building communities and denouncing gender norms to fighting against all kinds of discrimination.

After hearing that gender-balanced line ups weren’t possible, due to a lack of female DJs playing deep techno, it appears to be a necessity to write about it. Not only to offer more exposure to those womxn and non-binary people, but to allow everyone to check this reference in order to select more female artists for their next line ups, releases, podcasts, or just to discover new artists.

NB: This article will not write about ‘feminism’ and ‘male-dominated business’, as some people might feel offended and would not read further.

Building communities

“The terms technology and music are often marked as male domains, and the treachery of associated gendered stereotypes seems to gain force when these fields converge in electronic music.” – (McCartney and Waterman, 2006)

In the past, the gender gap in the techno scene was very deep. The majority of the industry was dominated by men, and the few female artists acting in the scene were often marginalized. However, some prominent womxn were able to overcome the difficulties and establish themselves in this hostile environment.

One of those pioneers was Electric Indigo. She created Female:Pressure in 1998, “an international network of female, transgender and non-binary artists in the fields of electronic music and digital arts.” Introducing the values of sisterhood in the clubber community, this platform connects today over 2700 persons from 80 different countries in
the world.

2. From Denouncing Gender Norms to the Fight Against All Kinds of Discrimination

Over the years, the techno scene has gradually stepped away from being “underground” and started conforming to the mainstream music standards. A prime example is the exploitation of womxn’s image in a sexual manner, in order to seduce a male audience and thus gaining more customers. This strategy, imposing fashion beauty rules to the female
body has fueled various debates, arguing between the right of people to use their charm to advertise themselves, and the harmful result of the reinforcement of discrimination toward non-conformist persons.

Following the #metoo movement in the cinema industry in 2017, speaking out about sexual harassment in artistic fields was no longer a taboo. The electronic music scene soon joined the protests and denounced abuses by powerful men in the business. After facing years of sexualization of the female body in order to fulfill some marketing strategies dictated by the major companies, this social movement emerged to explain the struggle of
womxn trying to fight against gender norms.

Since 2017, important organizations communicate about those discriminations and try to raised awareness about gender parity in the electronic music field. The objective is to create a safe space by being inclusive and embracing diversity in term of gender, sexual orientation, skin color and body shapes.

3. To a More Fair and Inclusive Techno Industry

“Inclusivity: the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups.”

Today, the biggest challenge of the techno industry is not only to acknowledge the fact that there are discriminations in the scene, but it is also to take actions and deactivate old habits in order to enable a change in the system. This comes first by having more diverse line ups, releases, podcasts, as well as by promoting new artists, promoters, labels or clubs in order to offer them a safe and inclusive space to grow.

In the last years, the techno industry was in a good way to fulfill those objectives. Many governments created funding programs to sponsor some artistic initiatives including minorities. Following this impulse, more and more festivals, events, label releases, articles, and advertisements started featuring gender-balance line ups and involving the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.

4. 55 Female Artists Involved in the Hypnotic Techno Scene

Despite a persistent gender gap, the small but rising music sub-genre that we like the most is step by step including more parity and diversity in its scene. Gathering artists from every continent, the global diffusion of this music niche is attracting a wider public and is gradually empowering cultural exchanges. Nowadays, an increasing number of international female artists managed to establish themselves in the industry and build
various influential event series and labels.

Through their success, some inspiring artists, such as Dasha Rush or Aleja Sanchez, have helped pave the way for the next generation of Dj, producer, sound designer and sound engineer. One of those multitalented figures is Laura BCR, the boss of On Board Music, who manages a label, event series, and booking agency. Other label owners, like Mary Yuzovskaya with Monday Off, are shaping their vision of music and influencing the genre.
Those business womxn are not only diversifying the industry, but they are also conscious of the change they can operate on it. Indeed, more and more event series, like Art Bei Ton in Berlin, are curating gender-balanced line ups and promoting new talents to support the improvement of a more ethical scene.

In order to highlight womxn’s works and their influence on the development of hypnotic, deep and ambient techno, we decided to gather a list featuring 55 Female DJs and producers involved in the scene. Nevertheless, this list is not exhaustive! The research to select those 55 international artists was based on the data collected from various events, labels and podcast series dedicated to the genre. Many artists are still to be
discovered and, if you are one of those, we would like to invite you to reach out to us and help the community to continue to grow. (Email: apolline@mnmt.no)