Navigating Danger: Women in the Music Industry

“It’s dangerous for a while for a girl to be alone in a studio with a guy until you know and trust this person.” Not metaphorically dangerous. Actually dangerous.

I’ve been in enough recording studios to know what she means. That moment when you realise the sound engineer’s hand has lingered too long on your shoulder. The producer who thinks creative collaboration includes commenting on your body. The uncomfortable silence when you politely decline drinks after the session.

For women in music, the studio isn’t just a creative space. It’s a risk assessment.

The Mental Gymnastics of Making Music

Keeana described the exhausting calculations: “Is he too close? In my experience, you have to be always careful.” Imagine trying to nail a vocal take while simultaneously monitoring whether the bloke at the mixing desk is creeping closer.

This isn’t about being precious or oversensitive. When half your brain is on predator alert, you’re not making your best music. You’re making survival music.

And here’s what really pisses me off: when talented women avoid certain collaborators because they don’t fancy being groped, we all lose out on the music that never gets made. Those creative partnerships that might have produced something brilliant? They die before they’re born because the basic requirement for collaboration – not being sexually threatened – doesn’t exist.

Double Jeopardy for Queer Women

For queer women like Keeana, the danger multiplies. She’s faced producers who think they can “change your sexuality and you just didn’t have the right man by your side.” Christ. As if being a woman in a male-dominated industry wasn’t hard enough, now you’ve got to deal with some tosser who thinks his dick is conversion therapy.

The fashion world, where Keeana also worked, isn’t much better despite its rainbow-washing. “Fashion world is a very tough world as well, because it gives you a lot of insecurities as well as confidence,” she told me. Even industries that trumpet their LGBTQ+ credentials can be brutal when you’re actually trying to work in them.

Survival Strategies

Keeana’s developed her own protection system: always bring the manager to first sessions, work only with trusted producers once relationships prove safe, maintain professional boundaries like they’re life rafts.

These are individual solutions to systematic problems. They work, but they shouldn’t be necessary.

The Economics of Exploitation

Here’s the thing the industry doesn’t want to acknowledge: when you force half your talent pool to navigate sexual predation whilst trying to create art, you’re leaving money on the table. Emerging artists, desperate for any opportunity, accept situations they know aren’t safe because they need the work.

That power imbalance between established producers and developing artists? It’s exploitation waiting to happen.

Technology Won’t Save Us

The pandemic proved you can make decent music remotely. Virtual reality and better audio tech might enable safer collaboration. But let’s not pretend technology will solve what’s fundamentally a cultural problem.

You can’t code your way out of misogyny.

What Actually Needs to Happen

The industry needs proper accountability mechanisms, not just hollow diversity statements. Anonymous reporting systems that actually work. Professional standards with real consequences. Industry blacklists for repeat offenders that record labels actually respect.

Educational programmes for male producers sound worthy, but honestly? If you need a workshop to teach you not to sexually harass your collaborators, you probably shouldn’t be working with vulnerable artists in the first place.

Beyond Individual Responsibility

Keeana found her people eventually. Producers who “accept me for who I am. They know that I’m gay. They’re not trying to get in my pants.” When that happens, the music flows because energy goes into creativity instead of self-protection.

But individual women shouldn’t have to solve this problem. Blokes in the industry need to start calling out inappropriate behaviour instead of pretending it’s not their problem. Industry leaders need to prioritise safety over profit when it matters.

The Creative Imperative

When women can collaborate without fear, when queer artists can be authentic without threat, when musicians can focus on artistry rather than survival, everyone wins. Keeana’s music proves what’s possible when talent meets safety.

The studio door should open to creativity, not predation. Making that reality requires acknowledging how broken things currently are and actually doing something about it.

The music industry has a choice: keep protecting predators or start protecting artists. The quality of music we all get to hear depends on which path they choose.

Links

Read deep dives into our queer lives at the blog HERE.

Check out the official podcast playlist on Spotify.

Follow the podcast on: Instagram • TikTok • Facebook

See producer and presenter Dan Hall’s other work HERE (subtitled version HERE).

Find composer Paul Leonidou HERE.

Listen to other episodes HERE.

Visit the guest’s homepage HERE.

IN THE KEY OF Q