Boiler Room to Address Sexism in Chat Forums

Longstanding hub for kickass live electronic music, Boiler Room have today acknowledged and pledged to address the sexism and misogynistic comments found in their chat forums.

For those unaware, Boiler Room often stream live events, usually focusing on the producer/DJ working their magic behind the decks. Overnight, one such Boiler Room show kicked off in Paris, featuring a set from one of Scotland’s best, Nightwave.

A chat section opens up next to the stream, and unfortunately the comments quickly took a turn for the worse. Nightwave sent out a few incredible tweets knocking down the haters after her set:

https://twitter.com/iamnightwave/status/748262828302286849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/iamnightwave/status/748264629160271874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

dont worry sadboys, your grandad can make you a turntable out of a shoehorn and Kelloggs boxs and you'll play Boiler Room too xxxx

— Nightwave (@iamnightwave) June 30, 2016

https://twitter.com/iamnightwave/status/748313680899641344

The topic of sexism in the electronic music world (and the music industry in general) is an often-discussed topic that not only needs to be acknowledged, but to be addressed and fixed. It’s frustrating as hell to see this still happening, considering how many people write about it and talk about it, obviously seeing the need for immediate change. Not only can this be found among the peers of female artists, but the fans, unfortunately, seem to have taken it upon themselves to deliver sexist, hateful remarks for no real reason.

Boiler Room were quick to respond with their own tweets:

hey – we hear you. it'll get better with immediate effect.

apologies pic.twitter.com/QzHsIDpTt2

— BOILER ROOM (@boilerroomtv) June 29, 2016

Quick Q: why do you – yes, you! – feel the burning desire to slag off female DJs on chatrooms?

— BOILER ROOM (@boilerroomtv) June 29, 2016

@MANARAxx & obviously we're gonna keep booking people irrespective of any racegendersexbelief factor. no retreating to safe white tech house

— BOILER ROOM (@boilerroomtv) June 29, 2016

FACT reached out to Boiler Room for comment, and received word from BR’s head of programming, Gabriel Szatan, about the issue. “We obviously can’t just shut down any comment when someone is like, ‘They fucked up that mix, that song is shit’ but we can’t allow straight up vile transphobic, misogynistic, racist things to carry on. We’re scratching our heads on determining how to monitor it but we know that today is the line in the sand. It [will be] difficult, but that’s not to absolve ourselves. As the biggest live streaming company in the underground that should stand [up] for its liberal values, we know now that it’s our responsibility to lead the field.”

Responding to queries on Twitter, they have further confirmed that they are in the process of hiring moderators to specifically focus on keeping these comments at bay.

Comment sections and chat rooms are notorious cesspits for douchebags and idiots who hide behind a computer monitor to make offensive and downright stupid statements. Unfortunately, the problem is that a moderator will act as a bandaid, but not a cure; it’s one thing to delete comments and block users, it’s another to stop the comments from coming in in the first place. In 2016 it feels like this should be a given, but as we’re all too aware, there are some people out there who ruin it for the rest of us. We can only hope that improvements will be seen across the board, and that people like Boiler Room will do everything in their efforts to school idiots about issues like bigotry and sexism.

Oh, and obviously don’t forget to check out the set. The Paris concert featured DJ Deeon, Nightwave, Feadz, Detente and Marvy Da Pimp, with Nightwave’s fiery set kicking off just before the 90-minute mark, heralded in by a son from the late, great Prince. Take a listen:

Boiler Room Paris x Dailymotion with DJ Deeon by brtvofficial