DIY Spotlight: GEM

We spoke to DJ and producer Gem via Zoom from her native Australia. The Los Angeles-based artist is stuck there during lockdown, having returned for her brother’s wedding earlier this year, which has intensified her lens on “doing it yourself” in a musical sense.

“There’s actually never been a better time to release music because there are so many opportunities and platforms that will support independent artists like myself,” Gem says. “You can really take control of your own music. I love the idea that I can take a whole project and there’s not people telling me how it should sound or what it should be.

Gem says making the music is only half of the work. The rest is marketing it and getting it out there.

“You almost have to be an entrepreneur now,” she says. “You have to wear so many hats. I think there are some great platforms helping artists. I’m using Ditto, I find that incredible and they’ve been enormously supportive. You have to go out and form relationships that work for you.”

Gem has been creating music since she was very young, forming an all-girl punk band in school. To the minor annoyance of her musician father, she started making electro versions of ‘70s rock songs by the likes of Fleetwood Mac — that covers record came out two years ago. Since then she’s developed her own sound which she describes as chilled electro tuned in to new age frequencies, and she released a new single, “Malibu,” on August 5.

We don’t know what the rest of 2020 has in store for us, but you can be sure that Gem will keep working on new music.

Learn more about gem at gemrpm.com.