Femme House's Impactful Event at W Hotel for Miami Music Week

On Friday, March 22nd, Femme House hosted their second event during Miami Music Week at the prestigious W Hotel in South Beach. The event was a panel discussion focused on education and mentorship in music.

Femme House is committed to creating opportunities for women, gender-expansive, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ creatives in the technical and behind-the-scenes areas of music. The organization is developing the future producers, mixers, engineers, DJs, artists, and executives of the industry by providing education, scholarships, cultivating community, furthering visual representation, and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.

Current Artist Fellows of Femme House include Hai-Life, Zora, Chloe Batelle, Senaerya, and Joanna Magik. They had the opportunity to network directly with the panelists, connect, and pitch them their projects.

This conversation featured Femme House Co-founders Hermixalot and LP Giobbi moderating the conversation with a dynamic lineup of panelists such as Ronny Ho (Head of Dance and Electronic Development at Spotify), Heather Church (Vice President, Talent & Marketing at Club Glow, Echostage, Soundcheck), Stephanie Karten (A&R Director at Armada Music US), Julia Fugazy (General Manager at Bedouin Music Inc), and Bailey Greenwood (Booking Agent at WME).

Attendees had the unique opportunity to hear insights from artist managers, premier agents, music industry professionals, and labels on what they look for in emerging artists. Here are some of the key insights shared by the panelists:

Ronny Ho from Spotify emphasized the importance of building and cultivating your own fan base first. She mentioned, “Playlisting on Spotify isn't everything. It's equally important to make sure you have a robust artist profile with music.” According to Ho, Spotify wants to hear as much music as they can.

Stephanie Karten, A&R Director at Armada Music US, shared her perspective on what she looks for in artists. She focuses on the music, wanting to hear something unique that stands out from the pack. She also values an artist who is working on building a community and fan base, and who has a clear vision of where they see themselves in five years.

Bailey Greenwood, Booking Agent at WME, believes that an artist's story is what gravitates her to work with them. She emphasized not putting a timeline on what you're doing and the importance of looking beyond music when building an artist's brand.

The panel resonated with the idea that "it takes hustle" to succeed in the music industry. Building a strong fan base, having unique and standout music, and cultivating a community were all highlighted as essential elements for up-and-coming artists.

We were able to chat with Hermixalot about Femme House.

What was your inspiration and the importance of having these types of panels during Miami Music Week?

“I think that the initial thought for us was there's just not very much for folks to do that aren't men at Miami Music Week, you know? The other thought was, it can be such a party, you know? Which is super fun. What we learned last year, we didn't think that people would come. There's so many parties and there's a lot of fun stuff. When we had such a great turnout, we realized that people were sort of hungry for these conversations to take place and ways to come together, during the day and not at a bar, you know what I mean? That there was real space being created for queer people and BIPOC people and women and gender-expansive folks, who just wanted to come together and be at Miami Music Week, but also feel seen and like together and with the community.”

What does it mean to you to have the fellowship program for the creatives?

“This is our first year doing it. What we hope is that we bring more and more folks every year and that we just sort of use our juice in the room to take them places. We took them earlier to the Meta Women's Brunch. We are taking them after to a Spotify party. We want them to meet people and build community and build relationships. It can be hard; Miami Music Week can be very overwhelming. It can be very taxing. It can be a lot of things. It could be a lot at once. On a base level, we just want to help people feel comfortable, you know, this is their first time here. And it's easier, I think, to have your first time when you know somebody and somebody can vouch for you and, you know, help you, introduce you to people and, you know, it just feels better.

It's support anyway. I think that's important, for folks, you know, the more marginalized among us in the dance music community like to come together and just feel safe together, get to know one another. Right? There's power in numbers and there's power in community and support and that's all we're up to.”

Any future plans for Femme House? Have you all already thought about a panel for next year?

“We hope to expand this next year and bring more fellows. To provide them hopefully with some performance opportunities. As for Femme House's future, it's about to get crazy. That's all I can say.”

There were many more invaluable insights talked among the panel and opportunities given to audience members to share their experiences and ask questions. As Femme House continues to champion diversity and inclusivity in the music industry, events like these play a crucial role in empowering the next generation of music creators and professionals.