Im Uhrzeigersinn: Bettina Wackernagel (Photo: Markus Roessle) / Mo Loschelder / Diana McCarty
It’s often said that electronic music has a »genderless sound«. But that’s mere theory. To this day, the narrative of masculine genius prevails, and female artists are mostly recognized as performers or interpreters. For many, the idea that Björk produces her own music, for example, is inconceivable. What’s more, the current feminist wave in pop changes neither society’s stereotypes of gender roles nor the artists’ “status quo”. Hence Joni Mitchell’s insight from the height of her fame that whichever man was in the room with her got credit for her genius, is more current than ever. What, then, will it take to initiate sustainable transformation? Which political changes are necessary in order to bring about equal opportunity? And what can funding structures do to encourage cultural institutions and event organizers to change their ways?
Mo Loschelder, Bettina Wackernagel, and Diana McCarty address all of these questions. Wackernagel and Loschelder run the brilliant festival »Heroines of Sound«, which focuses on female artists in electronic music and thereby strengthens these musicians’ presence in the music business – in a lasting way. McCarty is a founding editor of the artist radio reboot.fm.