Women accounted for ONLY 6% of composers, 6% of sound designers, and 10% of supervising sound editors in 2018…
The Mercury-nominated, British-born music producer SJAE (aka Sammy Jay / Samantha Powell) who is now resident in L.A. — has been acclaimed in the U.S. for being ‘the best in the business’ by many of her peers, including some of the world’s biggest music stars and producers, and she has been vocal about the scarcity of female producers:
“There are very few female record producers out there; in fact , I just gave an interview for a USC study funded by Spotify about why there are so few female producers in the industry. I believe we are haven’t been encouraged to be technical within the creative industry.”
“The assumption is that women exist only as performers, singers and songwriters, the introduction of a women who produces music, ‘makes beats’ etc is met with surprise and a sometimes not so subtle air of disbelief, followed by much questioning on tech – ‘What software do you use?’ “Do you really know how to mix a really fat kick drum?’ etc.”
A prominent representative for women in technology, SJAE is proud to announce her single, “The Avenue,” featuring Sam Sparro and taken from her debut EP titled “FIRST” due March 22nd.
SJAE says: “The purpose of my project is to show woman can produce records, create more content and more visibility for us, so we can encourage other women to enter into the field.”
SJAE has composed music for various TV shows, including MTV’s Ridiculousness, Lethal Weapon and has placed songs on many shows/films including Fox’s EMPIRE, CBS Flashpoint, STEP UP Miami Heat, Step up Up High Water. Most recently, SJae worked with Raphael Saadiq on scoring the Netflix movie, After Party, starring KYLE and French Montana.
We checked “The Avenue” [shared below] :
It’s a hi-energy disco number with beats that sound like they come straight from Shalamar’s body-popping days circa 1982. It’s cheese-ball, bouncy fun… And, of course, Sam has always been inspired by soul and funk so this is a perfect vehicle for his raw silk and loganberry-syrup voice.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/sjaeofficial/
Photo credit: Jenstarr Photo