Smirnoff Sound Collective are announcing a diversity program with the aim to push for gender parity in electronic music by 2020. At the 10th anniversary of the International Music Summit (IMS), which is a three day educational and inspirational thought platform for electronic music, one of the key issues was discussions surrounding gender in electronic music and the struggles women face.
It was announced on International Women's Day that Smirnoff had joined forces to make a change. With the clear gender imbalances in the studios, where 5% of females are producers, and on line ups where the female acts make up 17%, they have committed to double this number.
This all began when Smirnoff Sound Collective together with shesaid.so, a female focused musical organisation, hosted a diversity debate – "Balancing the Ratio – How the Industry needs to address Gender Disparity in Electronic Music". Joined by the likes of legendary electronic lady Miss Kittin, Andreea Magdalina from shesaid.so and Mobilee founder Ralf Kollman amongst others, the panel was followed by a "Diversity Roundtable" brunch. Whilst sipping Smirnoff Bloody Marys, big players in the industry dug deep into the issue of gender imbalance – coming up with some solid steps of action that can be put into place to achieve the dream, balance in the dance music world.
"We have put Diversity at the heart of IMS and we are thrilled to work with Smirnoff on a strategy and action plan to support their ambitious pledge. The electronic music industry has been side-lining female talent for far too long but with Smirnoff’s long term commitment, our think tank capabilities as well as our global industry network, we could enable a genuine, long-lasting change" – Ben Turner, IMS co-founder.
