The Electronic Music Inclusion Initiative has been launched to tackle harassment and discrimination in the electronic music industry. The EMII’s work starts with an online survey.

A number of organizations have joined forces to launch EMII in partnership with tech start-up InChorus (which provides a confidential, data-driven platform to address bias and harassment), including Pioneer DJ, Beatport, Sentric Music Group, AFEM, Mixmag, RA, IMS and Women in CTRL. Its arrival follows claims of gender pay disparity and toxic workplace culture in electronic music over recent years, while stats point to a clear lack of gender equality in the industry. In DJ Mag’s Top 100 list in 2019, only five of the top 100 were women, while in 2020, there were 14. In the Top 150 clubs, the annual percentage of female DJs is just 6%.

The arrival of the initiative has been driven by feedback from artists and music professionals who have cited instances where inequality exists. Their shared common goal is for real, pro-active change and inclusion. The survey, which will be online for four weeks, aims to collect evidence of microaggressions and other forms of harassment in order to inform the steps the industry can take to address them. Its findings will be released to the wider industry.

Pioneer DJ’s General Manager, Mark Grotefeld, who is the lead partner of EMII, said, “We hope this will continue the progress and empower individuals to share their experiences of bias and harassment and encourage the industry to adopt robust listening tools that enable targeted action and progress.”

“We have a duty to prevent harassment of all kinds and cultivate a ‘speak up’ culture across the sector,” InChorus co-Founder Rosie Turner (pictured) added. “Ultimately, cultures are shaped by the inappropriate behaviours that are tolerated every day. We are serious about culture change and believe that bringing actionable data to this conversation is key, as what is measured can be improved.”