Female dance musicians ‘largely ignored by radio’

Fewer than one per cent of the dance music played on UK radio is made by a female solo artist or all-female band, a study has found.

The research, which looked at music played in 2020 and 2021, was conducted by the Jaguar Foundation, established by BBC Radio 1 DJ Jaguar Bingham.

The study found that women are also under-represented in the dance music charts, accounting for just five per cent of hits.

Bingham said she was "disappointed and saddened" by the findings, adding that the lack of female dance producers is "systemic", with many women discouraged from pursuing a career in music at an early age.

"If I think about when I was at school, boys were always encouraged to do more technical things like music production," she said.

"As a result, there are more men in that field, so they managed to take over the scene and become the majority. So anyone who isn't [a man] maybe feels shunned, doesn't feel comfortable or doesn't feel welcome."