Written By Ria Hylton, For DJ Mag June 2023.
Lady Of The House launched as a Community Interest Company (CIC) last month, a type of limited company that reinvests any money made back into the community it serves, in this case women, non-binary and other gender minorities interested in electronic music.
“Everything we do is community-led, so for us it made sense as a natural next step,” Lady of the House General Manager Cat Hooper tells DJ Mag. “A big part of the CIC is opening up its doors for entry point artists,” Hooper adds, noting the music business-side of the platform’s mentoring and all the events it regularly hosts. “It’s not just about DJs and producers – there’s a lot of different ways that people can get involved.”
Lady of the House has announced a crowdfunder for the CIC launch, with plans to expand the team and employ an outreach coordinator, provide coaching and mentoring programmes to new talent, and amplify the community’s work.
But that’s not all. Lady of the House launched a record label at Brighton Music Conference last year with a month-long production competition to find new talent for its first four releases. The response was high and they’ve been releasing tracks from up-and-coming talent on a regular basis ever since. Cozmic Cat, who released ‘Black Gold’ with the label, was recently chosen as one of the top 10 worldwide winners of the Pete Tong DJ Academy and July will see the video release of Angel Lee’s ‘The Disco’. “We’re getting amazing tracks all the time and it’s further highlighting what we’re doing this for and how we can support these amazing women.”
Lady of The House has been championing women in dance music since it launched as a coffee table book in 2020. The first volume shone a light on the women pioneers of the scene, interviewing promoters, bookers, agents and club owners, as well as those early vocalists and DJs. The book, which was supported by a crowdfunder, sold out within a few months and so the platform is working towards a new volume towards the end of the year. A limited edition of the first volume is also planned for next year too.
CIC launch aside, the platform also has a number of gigs lined-up in June, including a take over of Glastonbury’s Shangri-La mainstage alongside Nia Archives, Sam Divine and Lady Shaka, and a season-long residency at Ibiza’s Cova Santa in Ibiza.
Find out more about the crowdfunder
