Women of Color in the Music Industry

Women of Color in the Music Industry

East Bay Woman of Color Collective Co-director

About WŌC

Cocoa Keys singer Devon is co-founder and director at WŌC. WŌC is a collective by and for women of color. It aims to invest in the next era of female music makers. WŌC’s mission is to provide a platform to help female music makers become engineers, producers, or songwriters. In other words, help them enter the ever-changing music industry.

WŌC believes women of color in the music industry need to have a seat at the table. 

Why Women of Color Music Makers?

Because women in the music industry need help. A recent study in Forbes talked about a gender imbalance in the music industry. Firstly, less than 22% of artists who has a top 700 songs since 2012 were female. Secondly, the gender ratio of male music producers to female ones is 47 to 1. Thirdly, in songwriting, women are less likely to receive credit than men. In other words, there is still a lot of work for us to do! Therefore WŌC wants to give the next era of female music makers the tools they need. By having access and education to workshops and training, WŌC helps level the playing field. This way, they can become successful songwriters, engineers, or producers in a male-dominated industry.

WŌC’s Story – Identifying Needs for Women of Color Music Makers

WŌC began when founders Ayvee and Devon met during an audio engineer course at SFSU. They learned they both had a love for songwriting and production. At first, they formed a group for solo artists to perform. However, they soon realized a need for women to better understand the music industry. Because they saw this need to respond to problems women of color music makers face, WŌC was born.

Programs for Women of Color Music Makers

WOC-SHOP: A 12 week course. It teaches women the fundamentals of songwriting, music production, and mixing. The program offers foundational training to prepare women for a career in the music industry.

WOC-POP: A 16 week artist workshop for emerging female songwriters and producers. The program teaches women modern song composition, vocal technique, and pop music production.


Are you an artist interested in getting connected or a potential benefactor interested in learning more? Learn more wearewoc and follow on IG @wearewoc.

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