At this year's Women In Music Awards, we celebrated the achievements of 13 game-changing executives and artists as the industry came together to honour their work. Music Week has spoken to all 13 winners to tell their stories.
Words: Charlotte Gunn
For Dotty, the meaning of being a music champion is simple.
“It’s having that pure love of the art that isn't defined by stats or trends,” says Apple Music’s lead cultural curator of Black Music, UK and the host of The Dotty Show. “We can see that shift happening in recent years across the industry as a whole, where it's less about development and more about momentum, stats and trends.”
Dotty, winner of the Music Champion Award at the Music Week Women In Music Awards 2024, has been fiercely committed to supporting the music and artists she believes in for years now, ever since leaving her own artist career behind to work at BBC Radio 1Xtra and then Apple Music, where she arrived in 2020. As well as that, she is also the best selling author of Outraged, which explores the state of outrage in our culture.
Earlier this year, Dotty hosted the Music Week Awards and starred on our digital cover, and now, 12 months after presenting Ginelle Appau with the Rising Star Award at last year’s Women In Music, she takes the limelight again, this time as a winner.
Here, we meet Dotty for a discussion of what it takes to be a true music champion, why Black music is going from strength to strength and what the kind of support she offers can do for artists…
What does it mean to win this award at this particular awards ceremony?
“It’s really nice. Most people who are champions of music aren't doing it for accolades or praise. I always try not to let praise define me. But I'd be lying if I said it's not nice to have a little pat on the back every now and then. Whether it's journalists, broadcasters or DJs. We’re the people who help funnel great music to bigger audiences – we are a key part of the journey. So it's so nice to have that recognised and I accept this on behalf of all champions of music.”
Could you sum up the qualities needed to be a music champion?
“A great quality in being a true music champion is being able to cut out the noise and focus on the art. If it's completely undiscovered, if it's had 50 streams, you still recognise its merit. You can see the value in it and want to be that conduit for that sound – so that it does reach its full potential – at a time when so many people want the potential to be there immediately. It's a true music champion's job to help it get there, as opposed to waiting for it to already be there.”
Do you see this as cheesy as it may sound, your calling? When did you first feel the urge to help artists?
“I used to make music many moons and lifetimes ago, so I know what it’s like to be in that position as an artist, thinking, ‘If only more people could hear me, my life would change.’ I understand the hunger. As an artist, you always feel like you're just one radio play or one playlist add away from something big. You think, ‘If just 100 or 200 more people could hear this, everything would be different.’ But in reality, these journeys aren’t overnight successes. A great example is Sasha Keable, who I’m a big fan of. She was putting out music back in 2012. I was looking through an old photo album the other day and found a picture of Sasha and me at a show we did together in 2014. Back then, we were both making music. I’ve had about 20,000 jobs since then, but she’s stayed true to her calling. It wasn’t until 2024 that things finally clicked for her, with the needle moving because of a perfect storm: a great song at the right time, with the right people backing it. As champions of music, that’s our role — to use our platforms to bring these sounds to the world.”
Not everyone is as excited by new music discovery as you are. How do you help build excitement around new artists with a wide audience?
“People can easily get used to their own playlists – this is what I'm listening to, and this is what I know. Quite often, it's the A-list thing. You might be like, ‘I'm in my Charli XCX phase. I'm having a BRAT summer.’ Or, ‘I listen to Beyoncé.’ But a little bit of hand-holding can go a long way, which is, ‘If you like this, you will love this.’ What I love about radio, in particular, is being that human algorithm for people and understanding that you like this – and this other thing is going to be completely brand new to you – but file this next to this. It's a great way to bring new music to new audiences because quite often, you're just not aware of what you like. You haven't heard it yet. But some things sit in blocks – it's how playlists work.”
You told Music Week before your show is about celebrating Black people all over the world and about community - how did you settle on that as an ethos?
“I'm a big champion of Black music, always have been, even before I joined Apple. When I started at 1Xtra, it was clear that Black music wasn’t being properly represented in digital radio. 1Xtra was dedicated to filling that gap, catering to an audience that was previously underserved. Joining that platform, I immediately understood its value. At the time, around 2015-2016, there weren’t many radio stations focused on Black music. Since then, I’ve been committed to championing this music and serving the audience that loves it. Black music is so broad — it's not just hip-hop and R&B. It's Afrobeats, Amapiano, Zouk, Drill, and so much more. It's amazing to have a platform for all of it.”
So much has changed in the way music is consumed since you've been in the business. How has that affected new artists? People say there aren't enough breakthroughs from the UK, do you agree with that? and what is the solution?
“It's definitely a shift, like anything in the music industry. I remember signing my record deal with Virgin EMI in 2014, and they told me they weren’t going to print CDs. I thought, ‘If my CD isn’t in HMV, what does that mean?’ That was when streaming started to take over, and it felt like a huge change at the time. But we adjusted. Now, we’re going through another transition, where social media holds a lot of power. Some artists don’t want to make TikToks or be content creators, and I understand that. But at the same time, it’s democratised music. You no longer need a label to make you big — you can create a sound, put it online, and in a matter of days, everyone knows about it. Shy Carti and Darkoo are great examples. They put out music independently, and it blew up.
“Of course, there are downsides. Some artists feel the pressure that if their music doesn’t blow up on social media, it won’t get a chance. But the upside is undeniable — it’s opened doors for artists who might have been overlooked in the traditional system.”
Whether in terms of race, making spaces accessible, the visibility of different types of lifestyles, or having enough women in positions of seniority, I don't think we're ever doing enough
Dotty
What is the single biggest challenge you've faced in your career so far?
“There are daily challenges. It's hard to fit all the music I want to play into a show, which in itself is a huge challenge. I could do six hours of radio every single day, just playing Ghanaian drill, but a great challenge to have. Maybe this is not a challenge, but something that I'm quite preoccupied with is getting people to understand that Black music isn't a fad. It isn’t, ‘Everybody's listening to Tems at the moment,’ or, ‘It's an Afrobeat season.’ This isn't a trend. This isn't temporary. So it doesn't need temporary investment or a season of attention. This is something that needs ongoing support and infrastructure. But again, it's a challenge that I welcome.”
Is the industry open and inclusive enough, is there enough representation and diversity?
“It's what I always say – there's never going to be enough. As soon as people start saying I think we’ve done enough, we're in an awful position. Whether in terms of race, whether that's diversity in terms of making spaces accessible, whether that's the visibility of different types of lifestyles, whether that's having enough women in positions of seniority, I don't think we're ever. Doing. Enough. And I think that's across the board in entertainment industries, not just, not just the music industry, which is why I really value my role in being able to to amplify diverse voices.”
How can artists and labels get the best from Apple?
“I’d tell them to realise we’re not some elusive, unreachable service. We had a demonstration this week, showing artists how spatial audio works. We had some amazing R&B artists come down to explain why this is a new dawn for music. It’s that direct dialogue that’s valuable. It’s not A&Rs or labels or even managers, really. We want to close the gap between artists and the industry. Ask us how our playlisting ecosystem works! It came up in the session yesterday – if you want to get on R&B it’s a global playlist that’s also localised, so if we can get you on the local R&B, then you could be on the global playlist. People don’t always realise that Apple Music is human beings – it’s not a bot spitting out songs into a playlist. It’s real people making choices about how music is shared.”
You've championed others, but who has championed you?
“My biggest champion is Trevor Nelson. He was the first to see potential in me as a broadcaster when I was on his show for a Live Lounge. He told me, ‘I feel like you’re co-hosting, not just being interviewed.’ I’d never thought of being a presenter before that, but he saw something in me. He invited me to co-host his show, and that’s where I learned the ropes. Trevor, along with his producer Adele and editor Robin, really championed me at the BBC. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Trevor taught me that lighting another candle doesn’t dim your own flame. That moment changed my life.”
What are your grand ambitions for the future?
“To continue championing music. Music champions – DJs and broadcasters and tastemakers – need to realise how privileged we are. As the tide goes in and out, we’re the rock that gets to stay and watch it all. So it's just to have longevity in this space, and to continue to have a front row seat of this thing that I love because it's a huge privilege. I look over the past 10 years of broadcasting, and I think, ‘God, whatever happened to that incredible Afro-swing artist from 2016? What happened to that person who had that great song in the summer of 2020?’ And I've been able to be there throughout it all. So, for me, it's just continuing to earn that right to be there and to sustain that privilege.”
Click here for more from Women In Music 2024.
