Halifax music producer encourages more women to take on technical roles in industry

A Nova Scotia singer-songwriter, who is most known for her powerful voice,  has been chosen as one of the participants for the "2022 Women in the Studio National Accelerator program."

The program helps producers-songwriters from across Canada advance their careers even further, and Halifax's Erin Costelo is one of six people taking part this year.

"It's meant to be kind of an acceleration program for women, and women-identifying producers, to basically build skills, connections and networking opportunities," said Costelo.

 

 

 

 

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Costelo studied music while in university, and says she was drawn to composing and arranging. While many know her for her strong vocals, she's also known to be a powerhouse behind the scenes.

"When I would write songs, I would hear all the arrangements in the background and where they would be in a space, panned on either side," said Costelo, as she spoke about making music.

"So, when I started writing my own songs, I just naturally was drawn to producing them, and then slowly other people would ask me to help them with their projects, and then it sort of turned into this other career, which I love it so much."

However, no matter how strong her skills, Costelo says she's still faced some stereotypes as a female producer-- though her resume speaks for itself. 

"For instance, on tour, a lot of people would go to the male members of my band to ask technical questions instead of coming to me," she said. "I produced a record for a woman in Ontario named Kaia Kater and that got nominated for a Juno, and so that was incredible."

She's also a three-time winner of "Producer of the Year" at the Nova Scotia Music Awards-- wins she holds close to her heart.

"For all the awards that I've won for my own music, that one has felt like the most amazing for me and kind of fills me with the most pride," she said.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Erin Costelo (@erincostelo)

"A lot of times, especially the women that I work with, they don't really get a lot of opportunity to express their own voice and what they want in their music, so I come to it as much more of a collaborator and I love kind of helping people realize the vision for their music."  

Costelo hopes her success will inspire other women to take on more technical roles in the music industry.

"I think that seeing a face in the public is kind of a motivating factor for young women to say, 'Oh, I can do this too.' And hopefully we can increase the number of women producers by just being examples."