Xylo Aria
Music Production For Women
XYLO ARIA: THE FEMALE GAZE Headliner meets artist and producer Xylo Aria, the founder of Music Production for Women, who explains why removing the fear factor is a crucial step towards welcoming more women into the world of music production. “I was reading this thing about unconscious bias recently, and I think there is a lot of that in the music industry with regards to women getting hired for certain roles,” begins London-based artist and producer, Xylo Aria. “But that is slowly changing. It’s funny because I was cleaning up a bit recently and I found projects that I worked on and had produced about eight years ago. They were actually quite decent but I remember at the time thinking that I would never call myself a producer. I think it would have helped from an early age to have more visibility about other women being involved in the field.” In early 2019, Aria set about changing that mindset by launching Music Production for Women (MPW), a global movement, community and online learning platform which aims to encourage and empower women who are taking their first steps into music production. Founded in East London, MPW aims to provide an environment where women can feel comfortable and supported through their production journey. Since launching, MPW has been included in university studies, featured in numerous podcasts and included in various articles on the topic around the world.
20 Headliner
Aria remembers hearing a statistic that claimed 5% of music producers are female. “It is a crazy number and to be honest – I think that’s been floating around for ages, so hopefully it’s actually a little bit higher than that now,” she adds. “A lot of it comes down to mental limitations, and that was a big thing for me. By starting up MPW and speaking to a lot of people, I’m realising it seems to be mental drawbacks as to why women don’t get into production. And it’s interesting thinking about why that is the case. Is it because there’s not much visibility and people just don’t see other women doing it? Then they perhaps feel like it’s probably not a space for them. Or is it just the fact that it is such a boys club, and that puts people off a bit as well? I’m trying to tackle all the bits that I think kept me away from the industry through MPW.” Writing music since age 12, Aria eventually took the decision to produce her own music, and after a period of experimenting, released her first material in 2018. Her own experiences as a female musician relying on other producers and the challenges of learning a skill in an area which is so heavily male dominated planted the seed to empower other women in similar situations:
“I came across a few barriers,” she admits. “I hate to generalise because of course there are some amazing male producers out there. But for whatever reason, I always felt a bit powerless in those situations. I let myself be treated in a way that I wouldn’t in another situation just because I didn’t feel like I had any other option, or I felt that by having a strong option I would annoy a producer with my attitude – and then I wouldn’t be able to continue with my music, which is a really shit position to be in.” Headliner points out that if there were a Music Production for Men, there would certainly be a negative response to this from women; are men supportive of MPW? “I’ve had a mixed reaction,” she smiles. “There have been some really strong male advocates who are really behind it and really like the cause and everything – they are good allies. But then there’ll be some that’ll be like, ‘Why do you need this? Why can’t you use normal resources for men?’ I’ll just respond to that in a nice way because I think it’s not helpful to be derogatory. Plus it doesn’t bother me – they’re not my target that I’m trying to help. And I was expecting that.” Aria points out that she in no way wants