Minor Keys - by Samantha Parsley

Book Synopsis

What's it like to work in the male-dominated world of electronic music? How do women and gender-expansive music producers and DJs thrive despite clubland's so-called 'bro culture'? This book combines the author's personal journey into DJing and music production with insights from a six year immersive research project and interviews with 63 global artists to explore the challenges women and gender-expansive artists face in the industry.

The book tackles common myths around gender, technology and cultural production head on, introducing the concept of 'ameliorative work' to recognise the continual and considerable additional work that minoritized genders do in order to succeed.

Engaging, accessible and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in electronic music, the sociology of the contemporary club scene or diversity issues for workers in the creative industries.

About the Author

Samantha Parsley is a writer, coach, DJ and founder of In the Key a directory and platform championing the careers of women, trans and non-binary electronic music producers (www.inthekey.org). She is Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Portsmouth and coaches research-led writers as Curious View (www.curiousview.co.uk). Samantha DJs and produces music as Dovetail and lives with her husband on the south coast of England.