Pride Month Music Recs from the World’s First Queer Music Agency

Pictured above: Queer Music Agency US founders and artists at their March 2024 launch party in NYC. From left to right: Brooke St. Bones (Funeral Doors), Kidd Nickels (Funeral Doors), Juni Purr (Funeral Doors), Emily Burnett (Founder), Aliya Bloom (Founder), Nai’a, Indigaux the Fae, Baby, Sedric Perry, Lana Ja’Rae, and JM.

Queer Music Agency is exactly what it sounds like: a music agency that represents solely queer artists, and it’s the only known business in the world doing this. The frankness of the business name is a stroke of genius-level search engine optimization by Denmark-based Frederik Diness Ove, who started the agency in 2021. It’s how Aliya Bloom, the co-founder of the new US branch of Queer Music Agency discovered the organization when she was looking for her next opportunity in the music business. 

“I am very proud of my queer identity and I’m a huge music lover and have always been,” says Bloom. “So I did some research and through really strong SEO, found Queer Music Agency. I just reached out saying, ‘Hey, I love what you’re doing. I’d love to connect and learn more.’”

In summer of 2023, Bloom started collaborating with Diness Ove on booking, and it was going so well that they decided to start up Queer Music Agency in the US.  

“From the beginning I felt like I could bring this here,” says Bloom, who is based in New York City. “I knew I was able to, not by myself, but just to get things going solo. So I said, ‘Let’s do this for real.’”

From there Bloom posted to the LGBTQ+ social media platform Lex, where she found her co-founder Emily Burnett, who had a background in music marketing. 

“I posted, ‘Hey, looking for creatives to hop in on this endeavor,’” says Bloom. “She reached out, as well as many other folks, but Emily was the only person that had the passion, the energy, the motivation—we work so well together and she saw the vision as clearly as I did.”

Since teaming up in October 2023, Bloom and Burnett have grown the US roster to a total of 14 artists and DJs. They celebrated with a launch party in New York in March 2024.

“We really want to focus on not only creating community between our artists, but also with our staff, with our bookers, with the queer music scene,” says Burnett. “I don’t think there’s enough representation of queer people, not only artists, but also on the backend, in the business part of the music industry. So I think having that queer connection around is something that we’re very excited about.”

Bloom and Burnett put together a Spotify playlist to share some of their favorite music recommendations from their 14 artists for Pride Month. They also introduced us to two QMA artists with Berklee and Boston connections: Eph See and TOMGIRL504EVER.

Eph See 

Eph See is an independent singer, songwriter, and producer from Boston. Their 2021 EP g*rlhood was met with critical acclaim by WBUR Boston, FADER, and FLYNCH Magazine, the last of which is how they first connected with Bloom. 

“When I wrote g*rlhood, I was living alone for the first time ever,” says Eph. “Had my own room, my own apartment and it was just such a period of reflection. I was learning for the first time what it really means to take care of myself and what I want and what I need instead of what everyone else was telling me was what I should want and need. And then because I was spending so much time with myself—it was also still lockdown time for a bit—there was just so much introspection and reflecting on high school, and basically just the years prior.”

Eph is currently completing an artist residency at a K-8 Montessori school, where they’re working with young songwriters and producers. 

“I just think creativity and learning how to express yourself, especially at a young age is a lifesaving skill,” says Eph. “Since budget cuts always target arts programs, being at a school that really centers arts in the curriculum, I just know I’m doing really good, important work.”

The teaching gig has given them time to be out in nature, by the ocean, and away from the city without a car, and Eph has also used the opportunity to work on their next album. In many ways, this period of isolation with flowing creativity is mirroring the lockdown experience when Eph wrote g*rlhood. They’re planning to release the new album by the end of 2024. Here’s what we can expect: 

“Definitely themes of death and rebirth and transformation and love,” says Eph. . . . “And just my own exploration and what my love style is as a queer person, allowing myself to forget everything that I think I know and be open to what could be and where life is taking me.”

TOMGIRL504EVER

New Orleans-based Sidney Bechet Blanchard goes by the artist name TOMGIRL504EVER, which is a nod to her city’s area code as well as her childhood nickname. Daughter of Grammy-winning jazz musician Terence Blanchard and prominent artist manager Robin Burgess, Sidney’s musical journey spans everything from jazz to hyperpop, and everything in between.  

“Living in a house where it was so normal to experiment with music and what you’re listening to was so amazing,” says Sidney. “It’s definitely the reason why I make the music that I do now, because even though my dad’s a heavy jazz musician, my mom is an R&B pop girly. She was like, ‘Look, I know you love John Coltrane, but I love Sting and Madonna, and we’re going to be playing both of those in the house.’ So I definitely think it’s shaped me as a person in so many ways.”

Sidney started off studying jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, and then switched to electronic production. She says the transition into hyperpop felt like “ego death,” but that jazz is still at the heart of her music. 

“I am definitely still using jazz influence in my music, thankfully because of Berklee,” says Sidney. “Honestly, I think everyone who does pop music should study jazz. It really makes you think about arrangement when you’re writing music, and it really makes you think about chord progression.”

Sindey is working on her next TOMGIRL504EVER album, titled Screen Rager, and is currently advance releasing some of the tracks as singles. 

“All of the songs are about catching feelings for someone through a phone and not really ever seeing them in person,” says Sidney, “basically falling in love with someone through the digital realm and what that means and what that looks like. It’s so different from what I’ve ever made before, which I love.”

What’s Next for QMA?

Next steps for Queer Music Agency US include expanding their roster of artists and staff, and incorporating a new drag booking component to the business. To inquire about becoming a QMA artist, Bloom and Burnett encourage artists of all genres to fill out the agency’s artist representation form. 

“Being queer is so much about fluidity and being genreless to some degree,” says Bloom. “I love that people could come to us for the queer identity, but then we can put in whoever we see fit and be adaptable.”

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