Abstract

Mindy Abovitz, the publisher of Tom Tom Magazine and a drummer herself, will talk about the evolution of starting the only magazine about female drummers in the world. She will discuss why she gravitated towards the drum set, how she initially set out to affect Google search results for keywords “girl drummer” and “woman drummer” and how that ended up in her running a print magazine that is distributed globally and growing daily. She will talk about what marketing to women in a male dominated market looks like and the challenges of re-branding an instrument that is currently gendered male to ultimately including all genders.

Tom Tom Magazine is the only magazine in the world dedicated to female drummers. It is 64 page full colour quarterly print magazine, website, events, social media movement and community. Tom Tom is currently on it’s 19th issue and is distributed to Guitar Centres all throughout the United States and Barnes & Nobles in the US and Canada. Tom Tom serves as the ultimate go-to guide for the latest information of girl drummers and beat makers. Tom Tom seeks to raise awareness about female percussionists from all over the world and hopes to inspire women and girls of all ages to drum, all while strengthening and building the community of otherwise fragmented female musicians. We cover drummers of all ages, races, styles, skill level, and notoriety.

Bio

Mindy Abovitz is a self taught drummer and drum machine programmer with a Masters in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research. She started Tom Tom Magazine; the first and only magazine about female drummers, in 2009. She hopes to impact the music industry through print media, new media, showcases, panels and community interactions and see a 50% increase of female drummers in the next ten years. The magazine has a feminist mission and seeks to balance out the gender imbalance in the music industry. Mindy has lectured, performed and held panels at: Sarah Lawrence, Carnegie Melon, Smith College, UCSD , UCLA, CalArts, RISD , Perez Art Museum Miami and MoMA PS1 amongst other institutions. She has received press in FADER Magazine, Paper Magazine, BUST , Miami New Times, LA Weekly, Miami Herald, Gawker, Smithsonian and Autostraddle.