Gender in Music Production

Abstract

The majority of critical and scholarly discussions on gender and music production illustrate the gender inequalities and masculine dominance in music as an omnipresent feature. Paula Wolfe states that female producers are marked primarily for their absence in the field, and have been under-researched, along with analyses of their practice (Wolfe 2012). Feminist research in the field has found that the masculine-led music industry is largely ignorant in regards to women’s productions, which has led to research on women’s contributions to the field critiquing the inequalities in the workplace, rather than offering an analysis of the works and practices of female producers. Sally Macarthur explains that “Women’s productions are not discussed in mainstream music production discourse or tediously analyzed in comparison to men’s music, nor given the same attention as exemplified in performances and broadcasts” (Macarthur 2002: 2). This chapter is a step towards correcting this discursive trend, through reflection on the contributions of female producers in music production. This reflection includes explorations on gender performativity and gendered modalities of music production. This chapter takes a broad definition of the music producer, encompassing both the studio producer and the electronic music based artist/producer. As electronic music has become part of the wider popular music industry, this elucidation situates this chapter within the current music industry context, drawing on semi-structured ethnographic interviews with nine female producers from North America, Mexico, Australia, and The Netherlands. This chapter provides a trans-local perspective on the female producer and an examination of music production through a female lens. Through this we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the feminine culture of music production and the feminine aesthetic of music production, gaining a fuller understanding of women’s participation in the field.