DJ Mag: diversity & equality report 2024

In 2023, we committed to several areas of focus. Updates on our progress are detailed below.

We committed to build on our original pledge by publishing an official D&I policy on our website. This statement will replace our initial pledge in guiding our practices, partnerships, and coverage.

We committed to develop a new community page to showcase relevant organisations, programmes and activity. Our dedicated microsite, djmag.com/community, serves as a hub for resources, initiatives, and educational tools. It provides a platform for highlighting vital work across the industry while offering practical support to those navigating it.

We committed to update our pitch guide to better reflect our current business structure, establishing a more fluid commissioning process, improving our community outreach and enabling us to provide further support and opportunities for underrepresented voices.

We committed to expand our community engagement initiatives by tasking individual teams to each develop and work on one community engagement project per year. We found early into the year that the practicality of assigning one project to each team was not going to be achievable across every department of the business. However, we were able to involve a broader range of team members, across multiple departments, who worked to deliver a number of impactful initiatives and collaborations which are detailed below.

Help Musicians Electronic Music Award

During 2024, DJ Mag collaborated with Help Musicians on the Electronic Music Award, a 12-month career accelerator programme supporting emerging electronic artists across the UK. The initiative provided financial assistance of up to £3,000 for each of the 30 selected artists to fund their music projects, alongside mentorship, networking opportunities, and an eight-session online course on music business skills tailored to electronic music.

DJ Mag assisted in shaping and delivering the programme by:

• Curating and booking a panel of industry experts who judged the entries
• Utilising our industry contacts to secure a venue at no cost to the charity
• Participating in the artist selection process to ensure a diverse and inclusive shortlist
• Providing editorial coverage to highlight the artists’ achievements
• Taking part in the Help Musicians Peer Mixer, a one-day event where the 25 final artists connected with industry professionals for hands-on guidance, including:
  • Speaking on the panel: a conversation on club culture and building your networks & community
  • Organising and hosting a track breakdown session with I.JORDAN giving insight into their creative process

TU3SDAY

Throughout the year, DJ Mag continued to offer direct support to Jae Tallawah, AKA TU3SDAY, the 2023 recipient of the AZ Mag Creative Fund, which was presented in association with DJ Mag. Jae, a disabled producer and DJ, creates music “by, for, and with people who live at similar intersections” to them, with a focus on working with neuro minorities. 

Building on their progress in 2023, we continued our support by:

• Providing further mentoring sessions, offering our expertise to help Jae’s development and career goals 
• Using our industry connections to facilitate introductions to record labels identified by Jae for potential releases

This resulted in Goon Club Allstars picking up demos for release and exploring an ongoing collaboration with TU3SDAY for additional projects, marking an exciting milestone in their career and expanding their reach further in electronic music.

You can follow TU3SDAY’s journey here, and check out their music here.

Best of British awards 2024

For our 2024 Best of British awards, we extended our partnership with Help Musicians, making them the official charity partner. As part of this collaboration, £1 from each DJTickets sale was donated to Help Musicians. Additionally, all industry guest list attendees gave a mandatory donation of £5 upon entry. These efforts raised a total of £1,920, which will directly fund Help Musicians’ initiatives supporting the careers of grassroots and emerging artists across the UK. 

Advertising

We also continued our longstanding offer of free advertising to community groups. To date, we have released inventory valued at £300,000 to amplify underrepresented voices. This initiative remains a cornerstone of our support, and we encourage interested groups to email [email protected] for opportunities.

We will be announcing further community support activations and projects as they are confirmed throughout the year. If you are a community organisation interested in working with DJ Mag, please email [email protected].