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150+ Female Producers You Need To Know

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Ari Herstand
Ari Herstand
Ari Herstand is a Los Angeles based musician, the founder and CEO of Ari’s Take and the author of How to Make It in the New Music Business.
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In honor of Women’s History Month, I’ve started a (living) list of badass female producers.

This was inspired by Ebonie Smith’s op-ed in Billboard which was inspired by the previous Billboard article “Where Are All The Female Producers.”

Well! Some of them are right here. If there are any I missed or others you know of and have worked with, please list them in the comments and I’ll add them.

I want to keep this list living and growing.

And to all the men who will inevitably pound out on their keyboards “where’s the list of male producers?! SEXISM!” I’ll just point you to every Grammy winner AND nominee in the producer category since the Grammy’s began.

No, seriously. No woman has ever won Producer Of the Year since the category launched in 1975. And only a handful of women have ever been nominated – for producing their own albums (Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, Lauryn Hill, Mariah Carey, Lisa Coleman, Janet Jackson and Wendy Melvoin from Prince’s band The Revolution).

And now these men will inevitably break their keyboards with “Well, there just aren’t that many female producers!” Now we know, actually, there are A TON. And they’re great. Not mediocre. Great. You just may not have heard of them. Because they have not been invited into the room and given a chance.

I’d encourage every artist, especially those on labels with more power, to work with female producers for once.

It couldn’t have been a more clear, visual example of male dominance in the music industry when Adele accepted the award for album of the year at last year’s Grammys and behind her stood… ALL MEN. I found it odd that Adele chose to not work with a single female producer. Not one!

I was very inspired last night when Frances McDormand, during her Oscar acceptance speech, said “I have two words for you: inclusion rider.”

I had no idea what that is so I looked it up. Basically, stars can put this clause in their contracts to ensure gender and racial equality in hiring on movie sets. Now, most movies have thousands of people who work on them and most albums have tens of people, so in music this concept would look a bit different.

But the idea holds true.

There’s no reason the studio needs to be run by all men. There’s no reason that the players need to be all men. There’s no reason that everyone who works on the record needs to be male.

Now, of course, for bands, bedroom producers and ‘friends making music,’ you work with your crew. I get it.

Your crew may be homogenous. Fine. But I’m talking about the pop stars who work with writing TEAMS. Who have writing CAMPS that come together to pitch them songs. Who go to countless writing sessions and work with countless producers for their albums. Who outsource remixes to top level producers.

Why must every producer you choose to work with be male?

Maybe, for your next album, you start with this list and choose some bombass female producers and BE the change you wish to see.

Here are some female producers (who produce music primarily for other artists):

Adrianne Gonzalez (AG)

Ainjel Æ Emme

Alex Hope

Alfiya Glow

Alluxe

AMAC

åMBe

Anjali Dutt

Anna “Annalog” Feller

Anna Meredith

Asma Maroof

Bahamadia

Barb Morrison

Bearcat

Bjork

Camille Gainer Jones

Catherine Marks

Catharine Wood

Christal Sarah

CloZee

Cooly G

Cordell Jackson

Courtney Hawkins

CRAY

Crystal Caines

Da Candy

Dani Deahl

Dani Thorne

DJ Cry Baby

Dj Haram

Dominique

Dot

Duktap

Ebonie Smith

Emily Wright

Emmolei

Erica Glyn

Erin Barra

Erin Tonkon

Ester Dean

Fatima Al Qadiri

Feral Is Kinky

Fxwrk

Gazelle Twin

Georgia Ann Muldrow

Gina Turner

Grimes

Gwen Bunn

Hana

Holly Herndon

Ikonika

ill-ēsha

Incksalonius

J.Phlip

Jane Blaze

Jane Weyes

Jeannine O’Neal

Jennifer Decilveo

Jessy Lanza

Jess Fenton

Jessi Jordan

Jlin

Judith Sherman

Julianna Barwick

Julie Wolf

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Katie Herzig

Keishh

Kelleia

Kelly Mac

Khaya Cohen

Kingzquest

Kito

Koloto

Kyler England

KYOSi

Lafawndah

Lapsley

Laura Sisk

Laurel Halo

Lauren Christy

Leah Culver

Leah Nuit Culver

Linda Perry

Lisa Hickox

Lokier

Louisahhh!!!!

Luna Shadows

Maddy O’Neal

Magda

Maggie Rogers

Mandy Parnell

Maya Jane Coles

Megan Hamilton

Merrill Garbus

Mia Gladstone

Micachu

Michèle Vice-Maslin

Miss Kittin

Morgan Kibby

Mree

Ms. Madli

Nervo

Nicole Moudaber

Nicole Otero

Nina Kraviz

Nova Wav

Pharmakon

Pozibelle

Pretty Low

Pri Tha Honeydark

Producherbeats

Pursuit Grooves

R Y A T

Raphaela

REZZ

Ronika

Sadiva

Sarah Tudzin

Sarah Nabil

Sassy Black

Sensu

Shura

Simonne Jones

Southpaw

Star Eyes

Stephanie Lawrence

Stoni

Susan Rogers

Suzanne Bonifacio

Suzanne Ciani

Suzi Analogue

Svani

Syd Tha Kyd

Sylvia Massy

TĀLĀ

Tasha Catour

Tini

Tiye Phoenix

Tokimonsta

Toni Williams

Toxe

Trakgirl

Trina Shoemaker

Tygapaw

Umfang

Vhvl

Wendy & Lisa

Wendy Wang

Whipped Cream

Wondagurl

Yaeji

Yanay

Youngmin Joo

About The Author

Ari Herstand
Ari Herstand
Ari Herstand is a Los Angeles based musician, the founder and CEO of Ari’s Take and the author of How to Make It in the New Music Business.

Join the movement!

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