Rebekah Launches 'When The Music Ends' Soundtrack Contest

Newton’s Third Law declares that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. To demonstrate how that creates both positive and negative impact in the club community, techno phenomenon Rebekah has partnered with Beatport to produce a compelling short film to bring these consequences to life entitled When The Music Ends. What begins as a night on the town grows darker when sexual harassment taints the festivities, and bystanders are faced with the ultimatum to interrupt or take action. To finish the production, Rebekah is reaching out to the wider community for song submissions which will become the soundtrack and scoring of the film.

The premise of the film challenges viewers to reassess how they might perform when confronted with the same daunting situation. Protagonists are faced with the daunting aftermath, including mental health issues, depression, self-removal from the scene they know and love, and the collateral damage of failing to take action. With a clever storytelling mechanic, each of the film’s scenarios plays out multiple instances with different results, which is sure to drive conversation and analysis of the community’s existing normalisations.

With an interest in sounds created by female, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ producers and DJs, entering into the contest is as simple as submitting the music through LabelRadar and filling out their profile.

Submissions must be delivered by Aug 31st (11:59 pm PT), and the final winners will be announced by Beatport later this year. Full rules and regulations can be found within the contest portal.

Get your tracks together and submit them over at LabelRadar.

Rebekah has been instrumental in creating awareness for the #MeToo movement in music, specifically with #FORTHEMUSIC, a campaign against sexual harassment and assault, in the club scene. As part of this campaign, www.metoo-music.com was launched to provide a platform for the victims to share their testimonials anonymously. From these stories come the roots of the film series, which is scheduled to debut at ADE in 2023.

Other partners in bringing the film series to life include Pioneer DJ, Nakt, and the UK initiative Safer Dancer.

We linked with Rebekah to learn more about her empowering #ForTheMusic call to action, the stories that inspired both the film and this production contest, how to better educate clubland on the subject of abuse, and more.

After creating the #ForTheMusic pledge back in 2020 and sending your open letter to the global dance music industry, what was the initial response, and how did this later inspire you to take on the creation of this upcoming film?

The initial response was very positive. I think the timing of when we launched as an answer to the allegations coming out around highly prolific artists helped with raising awareness. The inspiration for the film came after reading a study about Bystanders and how to assess whether a community or industry is actually ready for change. It was clear from the polarised opinions that we are still in our infancy around the topic of harassment and assault despite the industry being over 30 years old now. This is more clear to see when there is still a lot of victim blaming and disbelief regardless of studies showing that 96% of the time, the survivors are telling the truth. The film is to raise more empathy and see what the consequences are of abuse as well as educating the community as a whole to become better bystanders.

What have been some of your biggest takeaways during the creative process in formulating the vision behind When The Music Ends?

We are only just at the beginning of the filming process, so I can not answer fully. I will say that getting the subject and setting right in a way that connects to people is the main challenge. We are aiming to be more serious rather than cliched, which is what we have worked on the most. But luckily, we are guided by real-life testimonials as well as the statistics from the EMII 2020 study and its findings.

What are some steps people can take to further educate themselves and others about the silence surrounding harassment and assault in dance music and become better bystanders or upstanders when it comes to protecting women, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community on our dance floors?

There are a lot of resources online to educate yourself on seeing the signs of harassment and how to effectively and safely intervene. Good Night Out Campaign has a downloadable PDF to give you the tools. If in doubt, contact staff members either in the venues or workplace to report. But a good rule of thumb is to stop, support, and report when encountering harassment. The survivor’s needs are always to be placed first. Another tool is to speak to your friends who are in these minorities and communities and ask them about their experiences and how they wish to be helped if in need. Abuse and harassment can be very subtle, and sometimes you are looking at body language.

What inspired you to create a producer competition for the When The Music Ends soundtrack? What kind of sound and story are you seeking within these track submissions?

It actually came about from a very negative situation where a supposed friend producer gave me hell for not asking her for a track for a VA compilation to raise funds for the film. This was not done on purpose on my side; I just overlooked her. This then made me realise that more people would like to give and support, and some are only able to do this through their art as they may be unable to do so financially. It is very important to have music from the survivors and those who are minorities and members of the LQBQT+ community represented within the film, as it is their stories that are about to be told.

#ForTheMusic x MeToo Music was one of the three co-recipients of The Beatport Group’s $100,000 Gender Parity Initiative back in 2022. Learn more here.