DJ Justin James May Have Killed His Career By Posting Hiring Requirements For Female DJs

The amount of hoops women have to go through to even reach the same platform as men is something that is not going to be discussed in this piece. However, what will be presented is already in 2016, it seems that the music industry is taking huge strides to correct this issue while illuminating the subject more. Unfortunately, there are still individuals that would like to take us back to the 16th century when it comes to gender equality

Take DJ Justin James for example. First off, don’t confuse this man with the excellent Canadian techno DJ Justin James. This other DJ stopped by the “Support FEMALE DJs” public Facebook group and offered an incredible opportunity for female DJs through an agency he owned. However, there was a catch. You had to meet a certain criteria.

While the social media aspects of the request are a little slimy, they’re not unusual. That being said, the other bullet points don’t just push the boundary as unacceptable, they jump across it and never look back. To add insult to injury, there is no mention about a SoundCloud or Spotify account to listen to mixes and productions.

It gets even better. After a large amount of verbal backlash, he is sticking to his original statement. At least he’s not back tracking.

His rebuttal is pretty simple. He just doesn’t get it and/or doesn’t care. He even went as far as to start naming off famous female DJs that he ‘likes’. That’s like saying “I have black friends. I’m not a racist”. However, he does have some truth in his statement. The Internet and music communities are uniting for a cause bigger than himself and he is the poster boy for it at the moment.

“The conclusion I feel upon was this; I can not control the thought-process and actions of others. I DO NOT CARE. I do not care about the opinions of what small minded people think or have to say. I have always battled this, but… I do not care if you like me or if you do not. I have always tried to keep it 100, and in doing this my life has led me to some pretty spectacular places.”

Hopefully, this incident will lead to changes within the music industry. Coachella and Glastonbury are heading this issue on the festival front, but it’s going to take much more than that to turn this big ship around.

Images via Pile Rats