The End of DJing

First off, if you’re reading this on your cell phone and you’re in the middle of a dance floor at a club, say good night to your friends, pay your tab, walk outside and step in front of a bus.  The world thanks you.

I’ve been meaning to write this article for some time and I’m actually glad that I didn’t.  So many things have happened in the years since this seed was planted and they all help to buttress my perspective.  Whether or not you agree with me after reading this doesn’t matter to me at all.  As a DJ and a person who might consider killing himself if he went deaf because he loves music that much, I live this.  This is my life.  If something happened and I never DJ’d another gig, I would be satisfied with my career.  I’ve played all over the United States, in other countries and with too many amazing artists and DJs to name.  I’ve supported myself playing music to make people dance.  I have no complaints or regrets.

Also, as of writing this final draft, my heart is broken by all the recent calls from DJ friends who are “over it”.  These are good people and great DJs who have reached their breaking point from terrible music, unresponsive or abusive crowds, less-than-savory nightclub staff (from bathroom attendant up to owner) and all sorts of other bullshit unique to the profession of DJing.  The thing they love, their reason for getting up in the morning is damaged beyond repair.
This article is long because I care.  Read the whole thing if you care.

“The Story”
A few years ago on Cinco De Mayo, a club I worked for booked the legendary Crooklyn Clan to perform a 4 turntable set.  Some of you know CC from their record pool and classic party breaks, some of you don’t know them at all.  But if you’re in the know, you know that Riz & Sizzahandz are 2 of the baddest DJs to ever do it.  After the gig we did the late night grub thing and as if almost by accident, one of the most life-changing conversations I’ve ever had happened.  I don’t remember the point of the story being told but at one point either Riz or Siz said “after DJing”.
“You mean when you guys stop DJing one day?”, I asked.
“No, when DJing ends.”, they said.

You could tell it was a conversation they had previously had at length and were in agreement about the concept.  They broke it down like this…

“One day real soon, all of this is gonna end.  Sure there will be people DJing but it won’t matter.  When all the veterans retire, us, Jazzy Jeff, Rich Medina, Bobbito, Scratch, Prince Paul, all the good music cats, it’s over.  We can’t keep the good music parties going, venues don’t want it because it doesn’t bring a bottle service crowd and all the good music venues are closing.  People bought the buildings on either side of APT in NYC and called in noise complaints until it closed.  Who the fuck does that?!  And all the DJs are becoming interchangeable.  All clubs play the same 100 songs so why pay someone extra because they do it better?  Most of the crowds don’t care anyways.  Can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah.”, I said with my mouth hanging open.

“I have about 5,000 disco records.  Lots of hard to find shit I got from labels back in the day.  I’m gonna rip it all to digital.  You want it?”, Riz asked.
“Yeah.  Are you serious?”
“Yep.  What do you want?” .
“Uhh… Can I have all of it?  Is this a trick question?”, I said.

“You know how many younger DJs I ask that question to and they all say the same thing?  They say, “Gimme whatever will work in the club”.  They just want 20 disco tracks to have their “disco set”.  They don’t actually like disco.  They don’t give a fuck about the music.  They’d play the same 20 disco songs for the rest of their life and not care.”, Riz told me.

I was sitting at a table with 6 or 7 other DJs and nobody said anything.  Good DJs.  DJs that had been doing this for decades.  None of us could argue with them.  Our minds were blown.
I’ve told this story so many times in the past few years to DJs and nobody has argued with me.

The Causes
Some people say that everything happens for a reason.  I like to think that things happen for a bunch of reasons.  I listened to an interview with Chuck D one time and he explained how Hip-Hop started because of a specific intersection of technology, geography, socio-economic climate, popular thought, music and other variables.  It was a set of circumstances that will never happen again.  The same is true for the rise of rock music, the reason certain fashion trends take hold or why revolutions start.  There isn’t a singular cause behind “The End of DJing”, it’s a myriad of ideas, actions, trends other factors that will be the death of the DJing that we know and love.  The tragic irony is that I’m watching it die at almost the same speed that it becomes more popular than it has ever been.

Music
OBVIOUS STATEMENT ALERT:  DJing is about music.  Music is the most powerful thing in the world (next to love).  When you realize that music can change your mood, make you cry, trigger your happiest memory, connect you with other people and change your perspective of a situation, you’ll listen to music differently.  Watch a movie without music.  Boring as fuck.  Try to make love to your girlfriend with the wrong music on, it’s just. not. the. same.  Lift some weights to the wrong soundtrack.  Your workout won’t be your best.  Trust me.  This is my job.  I’m supposed to pick the song that’s your ideal soundtrack to whatever you’re doing.  And there’s a perfect song for every situation.

Popular music sucks.  You probably just got kinda mad at me for saying that and I might not even be talking about what you like.  The rock doesn’t rock.  The Hip-Hop couldn’t be farther from what made the world love it.  Pop is so carefully calculated for maximum catchiness it doesn’t have an ounce of soul.  EDM is a bastardized Top 40 version of house.  Country is unbearable for a million reasons (and I like old country music).  Don’t even get me started on all the new popular music that sounds like the 1890s and has banjos.  This is going to come as a surprise to younger readers but there were long periods of time in history when the most popular music was also the best.  Not only was Michael Jackson the most popular artist on Earth, he made THE best music.  Appetite For Destruction was one of the biggest selling albums and made Guns N’ Roses the biggest band on the planet at the time because the band and the album were amazing.  I don’t even think my brain could handle listening to the radio in the 50s, 60s or 70s.  I would die of sheer enjoyment.

In some weird twist of irony, now often times the worst music is the most popular.  Rack City, bitch.
Popular music has been in a steady decline.  In 2003 a US survey calculated that 43% of all songs played on the radio were produced by the Neptunes.  (If you don’t know who the Neptunes are, walk in front of a bus.)  43%?!  And it was good.  Not necessarily my preferred choice for “good music” but good as far as club classics.  Timbaland was churning out good party music from his aptly named studio “The Hit Factory”.  Usher.  Timberlake.  Lil Jon.  People were making music you wanted to play, wanted to dance to and wanted to listen to.  Where did everyone go?  Did you guys get bored of making great club music?  Play DMX “Party Up” today.  Still gets a reaction.  Play the most popular song from 4 years ago.  You will get the middle finger.

People used to listen to music in the home.  When I woke up my dad had classic rock radio on in the house.  The bus driver was playing his favorite station on his little radio on my way to school.  My mom had on Anita Baker in the car.  My parents owned records and a record player.  Read interviews with Jay-Z or Whitney Houston or Just Blaze.  They’ll tell you what their parents were listening to.  There’s no music in the schools, there’s no music in the homes.  Music isn’t being taught on instruments or even just as a listening pleasure.  It’s not hard to see why kids don’t know who Ray Charles, The Beatles, Madonna, Charlie Parker or Nirvana are.

True story:  A while back I went to visit a friend who was working on a cruise ship.  Some of the entertainment staff had been on the boat for a very long time (years) and hit me up for new music.  No problem.  At the time the biggest song was Big Sean’s “Dance”.  The staff thought the song, along with several others I gave them, was a joke.  They thought it was a fake song from a wacky morning radio show.  They were appalled.

If you think popular music is good, you probably also think McDonald’s makes good burgers.  One day if you’re lucky you’ll get a good burger and then maybe you’ll figure it out.

Radio
When I was growing up in the 90s in Pittsburgh, there were so many radio stations.  We had classic rock, alternative rock, pop, jazz, oldies, soft rock, several college radio stations playing the most randomest shit ever, classical, talk radio, Top 40 and country.  Each station had different shows with different formats.  Late at night all the stations played whatever they wanted.  Rock stations played local groups on Sunday nights and people could call in to vote on new songs.  On most of these stations you could call up at any time and request a song.  If you didn’t have money to buy tapes or CDs, you could get a fairly well rounded dose of music for free from the radio.
Now in Pittsburgh ClearChannel owns the country, rock, classic rock and Top 40 stations.  They all spin the top 10 songs in their format every hour.  The DJs on the stations don’t actually choose music anymore.  People are fed the songs that labels want you to hear ad nauseam.  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 removed the restrictions on the number of radio stations that a single company could own.  Now ClearChannel owns 99.9% of the stations in the top 250 markets in the United States.  (For more depressing statistics, watch the documentary “I Need That Record“.)

TV
MTV used to play music videos.  The entire video.  There were programs like Headbanger’s Ball, YO! MTV Raps, Super Rock and 120 Minutes for specific genres.  BET had Rap City.  You could learn about new music of all kinds.  Even the non-music programs like Liquid TV were refreshing and unique and stimulating.  Now music channels play reality shows.
Here’s Lady Gaga’s DJ pretending to DJ on a talk show…

Speaking of reality shows… Now there are “reality” shows about DJing.  If you think there’s anything real about reality shows, you probably think Pamela Anderson was born with a great rack, too.  Having friends that tried out for these shows, were on these shows and worked for companies somehow involved with these shows, the behind-the-scenes stories that I heard were unreal.  First, if you don’t drink Smirnoff and refuse to be photographed holding a bottle, you’re not going to “win”.  I don’t care if you DJ and it cures cancer.  These shows are about selling product, just like Sprite ads used Hip-Hop (showing my age) to sell product.  If you watched any of these shows, hopefully you were entertained but know that it’s a big joke.  Also DJ Hero is wack.  Now go read a book.
Here’s an actual Smirnoff ad they ran during the Master of the Mix promo.

And here’s my conversation with a brand recruiter.

You really didn’t have any DJs on staff to help with this?!
Still think it’s all about the music?  Hire a “Fashion DJ“.  Lots of Blue Steel right there…

Technology
A year after “The Story” occurred, again on Cinco De Mayo, a club down the street booked DJ Scene.  (If you’re a DJ and you don’t know who Scene is, walk in front of a bus.)  We had some mexican food before our gigs and he told me about what happened the night before.  The opening DJ at the club he played the previous night was DJing on an iPad.  This was right around the time when iPads had just come out.  A fucking iPad.  Scene said he played it cool, asked the guy what the software was, filed that info away and did the gig.  Later that night when he got back to the hotel, he paid $20, downloaded the app and took it for a spin.  He proceeded to tell me how you could essentially pick your tracks, pick your mix in / mix out points, choose some effects (if you’re feeling saucy) and with a push of a button it would mix the songs for you.  This opening DJ played at a club big enough to book one of the best DJs in the world and he was using a fucking iPad.
(Opening DJs, you’re getting your very own article when I get some more free time.  Don’t you worry.)
For those non-DJs reading this article, let me bring you up to speed on technology as quick as I can.  Roughly 12 years ago, software was developed that allowed a DJ to play MP3s from their laptop using turntables or CD players as the control surface.  This eliminated the need to bring your CD or Vinyl collection to each gig with you and spared you possible loss, theft, damage, etc. of said collections.  This also allowed you to play music that wasn’t being pressed to vinyl on your turntable setup.  All caught up?  Good.

This technological advance brought with it the inevitable influx of countless people who previously didn’t have the music collection, motivation, intelligence, financial means or interest to pursue DJing as a career.  It also allowed hard-working DJs to be more efficient and achieve things previously out of reach due to technological limitations.  There was some good, but mostly a lot of bad.  Most of the software was free so if a friend or bar had the hardware, your shitty music collection could now be the soundtrack to everyone’s evening.  Yay!

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water…
It has never been easier or cheaper to be knowledgable about music and people have never had worse taste in music.  It couldn’t be any easier to DJ and your average DJ couldn’t be worse in terms of technical skill or musical knowledge.  You still can’t download practice or buy hard work for $1 from iTunes.

DJs:  How many times has someone asked you for Tiesto and then not been able to name a Tiesto song?  (Why is it always Tiesto?)

Now that club patrons only want to hear 100 unique songs every Saturday night (Thanks radio & TV!), clubs can save money buy hiring the cheapest schmuck they can find with headphones because anyone can download those 100 songs for free.  I have seen my fair share of promoter-turned-DJ and club-owner-turned-DJ.  There ARE clubs that value quality but if they were the majority, I wouldn’t be writing this article.  It’s not completely the club’s fault, they’re basing their prioritization of the DJ on the crowd.  Why spend your money on a gourmet chef when people want to eat hot dogs?  (Why am I trying to become a gourmet chef?)

Think I’m exaggerating about the “anyone can be a DJ” thing, check out this article – How Hard Is It To DJ?-  Granted, this doesn’t make you a DJ in the same way that watching Bob Ross and smearing paint around doesn’t make you a painter.  (I also want to kill everyone involved with that article for saying that DJing is easy as counting to 4.)

If you’re bored, Google “iPad mixer” and “iPod mixer”.  Enjoy that.
If you know a real deal veteran photographer, ask them how many dipshits bought a camera and started calling themselves photographers the same day.  I own a camera.  I also respect the craft enough to know that I’m not a photographer.


Crowds

Everyone has the attention span of a chihuahua on cocaine.  You probably have ADD and a taste for instant gratification.  If you’re still even reading this article at this point you just scored points with me just for being able to focus for 10 minutes.  My first press kit was 7 pages.  That was too long for people so it became 2 pages.  Then it was 1 page.  Then it had to be a 60 second video.  I had to compress a 10+ year career and thousands of gigs worth of experience into 1 page and 60 seconds.  That’s some pretty small font.  (If you’ve been rolling your eyes like “Who the fuck is this guy?”, you can download my press kit HERE.)

Your average club goer doesn’t go to a club for the music.  They probably don’t go to that particular club because of the club.  They go wherever their friends are all going or wherever it will be cool to post a picture from.  I’ll wait in line for hours to hear a DJ or band I love, not to post a picture from inside the party.  (I love your limited edition Hip-Hop clothes, it’s a shame you didn’t know any of the obvious Biggie songs.  Why are you here?)

Once you’re wherever you’re going, JUST COMMIT TO BEING THERE.  If you’re at a party with friends, there’s no reason to look at Facebook or Instagram or Twitter!  Is there a different party somewhere else that you’d rather go to?  Are there other friends you’d rather be with?  I’m not talking about taking a pic and posting it, I’m talking about watching people thumb through their feeds in the middle of the dance floor.  When I see your backlit face, I want to hit it with my fist.  I’ve heard rumors about clubs where cell phones aren’t allowed on the dance floor.  Pinch me I’m dreaming.

If you think I’m over-embellishing the cell phone point, here’s a short film that should make you real sad.  If it doesn’t, you’re probably one of the wastes of life in the film.


Club Owners
If you’re a DJ reading this and you don’t have a journal full of stories about club owners shitting on you, you must be new here.  There are stories about DJ AM, probably the greatest and most influential DJ of all time getting shit on by club owners at the height of his career.  Don’t believe me, Jazzy Jeff got pulled off stage more than once by management recently.  In case you only remember Jeff from a tv show in the 90s, he’s a god in the DJ world in terms of legacy and talent.  Read.  Again, there are good clubs and club owners out there.  You know who you are.  Unfortunately for you, the next 20 clubs and owners after you make DJs hate the title “club owner”.

Festivals / Festival DJs
I could write an entire separate article describing what I think about the music festival phenomenon but I’ll just paraphrase it by saying, it’s rubbish.  Remember my point earlier about committing to something because of the music?  Here’s a video from Jimmy Kimmel where they talk to people at Coachella about bands that don’t exist.  Unreal.



There are very few DJs that do something worthy of a festival stage.  DJs like Z-Trip and Swamp are working their asses off on stage seamlessly blending endless genres, scratching, doing tricks and more.  You know, actually performing.  (This is the part where you find out there’s no Santa Claus.)  SPOILER ALERT: Most festival DJs aren’t DJing at all.  They’re just playing one long pre-recorded track.  How do you think the lights and visual all match the music perfectly?  Sure they’re turning knobs, jumping around, making heart hands, playing air synth and even throwing cake at kids in wheelchairs like Steve Aoki, but if they died, the next song would magically mix itself.  There are a few festival DJs that actually mix the songs together themselves (pretty risky when they’re all 128 bpm) but this isn’t really DJing.

The skillset that a club DJ acquires over countless gigs can’t be earned any other way than in the trenches.  Reading crowds, on-the-fly adaptation, honing technical skills, troubleshooting equipment problems without missing a beat, developing a style, taking chances, fucking up and learning from it; these are the things make you a real DJ.

Avicii had some real choice comments about DJing.  Guess what asshole?  You’re not a fucking DJ.  You’re a producer.  I’d respect you more if you came out on stage, thanked the crowd for coming, shouted out your light tech, recognized your visuals guy and then explained that you sequenced the next 90 minutes of music for their enjoyment.  After that, walk off stage and let everyone enjoy the Avicii music video.  You’re not needed anymore for the show to happen.

Celebrity DJs
One time my friend was DJing at a bar in Los Angeles.  A guy came over and asked him if he liked Rage Against The Machine.  My friend told the guy that he was a huge fan.  The guy said that Tom Morello was in the bar, liked his DJing and wondered if he could come watch for a bit.  Ecstatic, my friend said “Of course!”.  After about 20 minutes and a few questions, Tom Morello had explained to my friend that he wanted to start picking up DJ gigs on the side.  Tom Morello.  The guitar player for Rage Against The Machine.  One of the greatest guitar virtuosos of our generation.  A man who’s made a massive career and countless money being the best at something.  Now he wants to do what you do.  Worse than you do it.  Probably for shits & giggles.  Good luck keeping your gig if he tells the manager he wants it.  My friend almost cried.

Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite.  Danny Masterson from That 70′s Show.  Elijah Wood from Harry Potter.  Tommy Lee from Motley Crue.  Alicia Keys.  Pauly D.  Random dudes from random bands.  Over-the-hill celebrities from reality shows.  The list goes on forever.  We all saw that Paris Hilton festival debacle.  Good thing she just signed a huge contract to DJ in Ibiza.

These people get paid bags of money to come to your club.  They either play a prerecorded track that they paid an actual DJ to record for them or worse, they try to DJ and fail miserably.  At the end of the day, the club charged $25 a head, made 10x what they paid the celebrity and your mom got to take a picture with someone she saw on TV one time.  The crowd doesn’t know any better and they’re drinking the Kool-Aid so they think it was great.  Pretty soon your job has no cred and every celeb that needs to pay their taxes is putting on headphones.  I’m sure legitimate painters feel the same way when people like Sylvester Stallone edge them out of that gallery show they’ve been working their whole life to get.
If you don’t want to puke yet, read about 73 year old Ruth Flowers.

Battles
I thought long and hard about what to write here.  I may pen something about battles one day but I think it would be too long for this piece and it really deserves it’s own article.  I’ll just say that a lot of DJs win battles and can’t rock a party, a lot of DJs can rock a party and can’t win a DJ battle.  Some can do both.  Some can do neither.  There’s a lot of great things about battles and there’s a lot of bad things about battles.  “My name’s Paul and this between y’all…”
(I’m also not touching DJ schools and DJ staffing companies…)

DJ Rosters
Wanna be on a DJ roster?  Let me walk you through your new job at Super Epic Killing It DJs.
First step, they reach into your pocket and take 15% (at least) of all your existing gigs that you’ve worked so hard to build up.  If you’re not unfuckingbelievably good and/or don’t have a healthy gig schedule, forget it.  (If you’re just OK but have some juicy gigs, you’ll still probably work out.)  Then they’re going to get you a few out of town gigs, minus at least 15% of course.  Assuming you do the gigs well enough (DJ well enough, bro out with the promoter and owner well enough, engage in whatever activities you need to well enough (binge drinking, drugs, sex, etc.)) to get called back, you stay on.  Hopefully they’re getting you enough travel gigs at a big enough purse to even out the money they’re taking from you at home, the gig you gave up at home to fly out of town and any expenses you incur from traveling (airport parking, cabs, food, etc.).  I’ve also heard of contracts where you get the gig and if you don’t get the call back, you owe the roster money for their time and investment.  Yeah.  You’re fired and you get an invoice for 4 figures.

I’ll let you run your own math in your head but your travel gig probably doesn’t pay what you’re fantasizing it does.  (They used to pay a lot more.)  Also, when you do the math, remember that you’re leaving your house at 2pm Friday and not getting back until 5pm Saturday for example.  I don’t know what you’re worth an hour but you should probably factor all those hours.  (You really like sitting at the airport, don’t you?)  Just know that leaving your house at 9pm, DJing for 4 hours, getting home at 3am, sleeping in your own bed at 3am and making $X might be better than flying out of town for double $X after you factor hours, cabs, airports, etc.

It’s not a bad situation if the math works and you can get pretty high up on the roster.  Most rosters have many many DJs and you’ll be at the bottom of the scrotum pole.  If the roster loses a club contract, guess who ain’t working?  That’s right, these rosters expand or contract based on the contracts available for their DJs.

Note:  I have many friends on DJ rosters and they’re great guys and amazing DJs.  They work a ton and make lots of loot.  I also look at the rosters and see tons of guys I’ve never heard of who don’t seem to be working a ton.  Know your role.

Gig Swaps
Don’t know what this is?  It’s where a dude you don’t know calls and asks if you want to play in his town.  All you have to do is give him or his DJ a gig in your town.  Sound too good to be true?  There’s a lot of it happening in the club world nowadays.

I’ve done this a few times and at the end of the day I have very little positive to say about it.  I think I’ve made a couple actual friends but mostly I met a bunch of fake people who want to be your friend as long as it puts cash in their pocket a few times a year and looks good for their schedule.  I’ve had people come play my clubs that sucked beyond belief.  I’ve had people sleeping on my couch that I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.  I’m owed a handful of gigs in various cities (Cleveland I’m looking at you).  I quickly stopped after I saw the full picture of it.

What actually works is becoming real friends with a person, someone you also respect as a DJ, and then doing business together.  Win/win.  If the business doesn’t pan out at least you have a friend and that’s what really matters at the end of the day.  You can also try being such a good DJ and grinding so hard that you get booked out of town and then get called back for doing good work.  Case in point, DJ Excel.  Great dude, great DJ, roster free, busy as fuck.

Money
It’s getting harder every year to make the same dollar.  I see 3 main causes:
1. Clubs have a bad taste in their mouth from overpaying a shitty DJ.  You came in with your fancy press kit, talked until the club owner had a hard-on and then sounded like sneakers in the dryer when you DJ’d.  Now I gotta somehow convince this person I’m worth what you got paid, if not more.  Thanks asshole.

2. Undercutting.  True story:  Once upon a time in Portland there were 2 DJs who split a Wednesday at a club for $150.  2 hours each, $75 each.  DJ A tells the owner, “Why don’t you fire DJ B and I’ll do the whole night for $100?”.  (They’re supposed to be friends.)  Club fires DJ B.  DJ A doesn’t realize that not only is his dumb ass working for $25/hr instead of $37.50/hr but he’s also lowered the club’s budget.  Now if someone takes over Wednesday, the bidding starts at $100 instead of $150.  I think DJ A also caught an ass whooping.

I’ve had friends (excellent DJs) lose gigs over undercutting, sometimes where the new DJ came in and played for free.  They just wanted drinks and celebrity and girls.  Someone in the UK who didn’t believe undercutting was real asked, “How can a good DJ lose a gig to a shitty DJ?”.  This brings me to my next point…

3. Some clubs (a lot of clubs) don’t value good DJs.  A good DJ is a bargain.  Obviously you’re getting someone who can rock a party but you’re getting much more that you might not realize.  A good DJ is professional, promotes his gigs, works to expand his promotional circle, has professional grade gear and keeps it maintained so it doesn’t fail, has a strong network of other good DJs to refer, interacts well with customers, etc.  You might not ever notice that your good DJ isn’t late or drunk or high or yelling at customers or letting records play out while he talks to girls or even bailing on gigs.  Most people don’t notice things when they work they way they’re supposed to.  You notice real quick when you hire a scrub.  Meanwhile that fight you had with your good DJ over $50 was a short term bad idea that will turn into a long term bad idea when he takes 10 of your customers across the street.  (10 customers at $20 a head = more than $50)

(I had a friend in Vegas lose a gig one time to a guy who sold coke to the manager.  The guy didn’t even DJ.)

Note:  If you weren’t around for that pre-2008 economic collapse corporate money, you missed out on some “never gon’ happen again, just put the whole bar’s tab on my credit card and add 30% for a tip, charging companies 5 times what you normally would” money.  Sorry kid.

Summary & Key Points
There will always be DJs.  There will always be DJing.  We’re not going to wake up tomorrow to find that DJs on iPads have taken all the gigs.  I still largely love my job and I’m going to DJ as long as I can.  I’m constantly learning about new DJs who are pushing the envelope and making big waves.  We also still have a strong community of veteran DJs who I look up to and inspire me to always improve.  I definitely get humbled every now and again when I catch a DJ set from someone who is just a bad mother fucker on the decks.  These DJs, great fans and good music are the reason I do it.  It just gets harder to enjoy it every year in some ways.

This article isn’t about me.  I’m not a grumpy old man wishing for days long gone, I’m just not lying to myself about what’s happening.  If you think everything is awesome and you’re killing it, maybe you are.  Maybe you’re not and nobody has told you.  I’m still DJing, I’ve just stopped taking gigs I absolutely loathe and I don’t work for less than what I should be paid.  This article is a response to what I see happening around me and where I think some things are heading.  It’s about losing the platform to play good music in clubs and the state of music and DJing in general.  I’m just saying what a lot of other DJs have said to me recently.  It doesn’t apply to every DJ, but it applies to a lot of DJs.  If you’re reading this and you’ve reached the level where you can make crazy bank playing whatever you want or love your gigs (or maybe money) enough to disregard music you might have to play that you don’t like, that’s what’s up.  You got to the top of the mountain.  Maybe you actually like the music you’re playing.  Sometimes I wish I could just turn my brain off, smile and DJ.  I haven’t spent my life becoming knowledgeable about good music so that I can play only bad music.  Trap?  Really?

I went to DJ in Australia in 2011 and saw a whole concert venue full of 14 year old girls singing along to big room house, the same house music that was charting in the UK,  and had to come home to playing “I’m Sexy And I Know It”.  We can do better.  Will we?

A friend and DJ I look up to told me he couldn’t believe I didn’t drink because if he couldn’t drink he would have quit DJing a long time ago.  He said he can’t imagine getting through some gigs sober.  He hates it that much sometimes.

A lot of DJs I know with great taste in music are putting out mixes of fantastic songs they can’t play out because, well, they can’t play them out.  Crowds don’t want to hear new, good, exciting music.  They want the radio and they want it right now.  I get lots of great music every week.  I just can’t play most of it for club crowds.  DJs don’t listen to what they play in clubs in their cars.
Too many of my friends, no matter how good they are or how long they’ve been DJing have had to put up with some real serious bullshit from clubs, promoters, other DJs and crowds as of late.  I’m talking 10-15 year vets.  Nobody is above it.

What is really, really getting better about DJing?  Yes it’s a fun job but if it’s your career you need to think of it in terms of a career and goals.

My advice?  DJs not in the top 5% need to think about their next career.  If you’re in the top 5%, you make so much money that it doesn’t matter what happens next.  (If you don’t know whether or not you’re in the top 5%, you’re probably not.)  If you’re not in that category, think about what you’re going to do post-DJing and invest wisely.  If you’re making good money now, don’t blow it all on rims.  I’m not saying you can’t DJ forever, I just hope the money you make in 10 years is better than the money you make now if you’re still on the decks.  I hope the gigs are better too.  If you can’t make the money you want at your gigs yet, don’t be scared to make money some other way while your skill set develops to the point where you can command more money.  Don’t get taken advantage of by clubs.  Aside from that, put out mixes of whatever cool music you love and try to throw parties where you play good music.  Keep good music alive, it’s your job!

5000…

Thank You JoJo Electro Clothing

DJ Tech : The esoteric art of the opening DJ

Credit : Resident Advisor No one seems to understand it. No one seems to respect it. And it might just be the most important part of the night. RA explains why the warm-up DJ deserves perhaps even more credit than the headliner. There are many variables in producing a proper electronic music event. Some things are obvious: a proper space with quality sound and engaging visuals are part of the physics that create a comfortable environment for the crowd. If, for instance, the sound system isn't properly dialed in to the acoustics of the space, the performer, regardless of his or her talent, is going to sound like crap. The result is a lethargic dance floor and an angry performer who will not only expect to get paid but will never come back. But there are many subtle factors that can keep an event from being labeled "epic" and instead relegate it to just "another night out." Fast bartenders, adequate bathrooms and a security crew that behaves professionally all contribute to a clubgoers overall perception. When it's done right, these things aren't even noticed. But when you have to stand in line for half an hour to piss in a flooded bathroom, while in the main room, everyone's mind is being blown by the DJ you paid a lot of money to see, your night gets flushed down the toilet. A message from the opener Dean Muhsin, a resident at Steve Lawler's VIVa @ MOS nights sounds off I've been a resident DJ on and off for about ten years and am lucky to have the residency I have, but I've just recently begun to notice how marginalised some residents are becoming. Shorter sets and crappy slots mean that there's a fair chance that the guest will have started by the time anyone gets to the club. I know there are people out there who really believe that a resident/warm-up set is the real essence of DJing, but for some reason people seem to fall foul of that marginalisation. That said, people like Secret Sundaze have got a wicked balance of residents/guests, so it's clearly doable. There's room for the resident DJ to become the focus of the night again, and not just because they're sometimes stuck in traffic and have to ask the headliner to start their set for them. (Thanks, Will Saul!) The last crucial element in the event equation, though, is the opening DJ. At a live music event, if the opening band is terrible there is always a short break to switch out equipment. The headliner then takes the stage and the night moves on. But in a club environment the music rarely stops from the moment the first track begins. This continuous flow of sound is maintained until the lights are turned on at the end of the night. A good DJ taps into this flow and manipulates the energy of a room through careful programming and mixing choices. Mastery of this flow allows a DJ to take the crowd on the sonic journey which has come to define the all-night electronic music party. But the headliner almost never plays from the moment the doors open. One or more opening DJs are used to warm up the room, keeping the crowd entertained and the alcohol flowing until the headliner's designated time slot later in the evening. And many promoters seem to be unaware of how important this role can be. A DJ who isn't up to the task of opening can dissipate the energy on the dance floor before it has a chance to solidify. In a good scenario, the crowd will pack the bar and hug the walls until the headliner comes on. In a worst case scenario, the club will empty out before the DJ has time to mix in a new track. In many ways, the warm-up DJ faces more challenges than the headliner. Consider this: The opener must start with a fairly empty room that slowly fills with generally sober people who aren't there to see them. The DJ must create an atmosphere out of thin air and at the same time set the stage for the musical narrative of the headliner's set. Steve Lawler, head of Viva Music who has headlined top venues the world over, agrees, "The warm-up's job is in fact the hardest and very important to how the whole night will turn out. If a warm-up does a good job, you can feel it in the air, and then usually 99% of the time, it's an amazing night." The opening DJs biggest challenge is to program a set that will seamlessly sync with the DJ who will go on next. "The opening DJ has a huge responsibility; they can dictate the entire mood of the party," says Magda, of Minus Records. "You have to think about who you are opening for and how they play in order to avoid overpowering their sound." Each headliner has a definitive musical style that presents a unique programming challenge to the opener. "If I open for Theo Parrish I definitely will not be playing the same records as opening for Richie Hawtin. That's the fun of it though," she explains. "It's a challenge to get the different crowds worked up while complementing the main act at the same time." A good opener must have two things: an attenuated awareness for the musical progression of the night, and an extremely large and eclectic record collection. Craig Richards would concur. With a ten year residency at Fabric, London's most respected club, Richards is highly regarded as one of the best opening DJs in the world. Warming up a room is a position Richards fully embraces, "Over the years I have often opted for the warm-up slot. I find it a wonderful challenge which if played properly can result in maximum musical fulfillment." Great opening DJs know their music and the subtle effects each record transition will have on a dance floor. DJ Yousef, the DJ and promoter behind Liverpool's legendary party, Circus, says for a DJ to successfully warm up a crowd "they need to be aware that the tempo, the groove, the energy and even the texture of every record must be seriously considered." This sensitivity to the way music influences the crowd allows the opener to begin the patient task of drawing people to the dance floor. Dirtybird's Christian Martin describes it as such: "Your job is to peel people away from the bar, and keep building upon that small nucleus of early dancers that will eventually become a packed dance floor. It's important to pay attention to the mood of the floor and adjust the direction of your set accordingly, without going overboard too early." Martin's last point brings up another extremely important trait of great openers: restraint. "I've [sometimes] had to kill the music altogether to reset the energy." - Lee Burridge "I know a lot of my fellow DJs feel the pain on so many nights from an inappropriate, overly energetic and mostly far too big warm-up set," Lee Burridge laments. With over 25 years of experience, Burridge is universally recognized as one of the world's most talented DJs. He says great warm-up DJs "understand where the guest DJ starts from—not where they are two hours into their set. The energy needs to be left at a point where the guest DJ can comfortably continue from." Burridge told me that in many cases the opener plays records of such high intensity "I've [sometimes] had to kill the music altogether to reset the energy." "I've warmed up for many big names over the years and I realized a long time ago that the night wasn't about me alone," Burridge continues, "This seems hard to accept for a lot of upcoming DJs as they want the attention of the people. This attitude totally disturbs the gradual build of the night as a whole." Many young DJs see the opening set as their chance to show what they've got, but the result of this enthusiasm is exactly the opposite. Yousef states when an opening DJs set is "hitting them over the head with an iron fist" of uptempo, peak hour tracks, it "will always result in not getting another gig." But there is more to opening a room than just keeping the tempo under 124 bpm and playing deep music. The signature of a great opener is defined by a devotion to the music he or she is playing. As Lawler explains, "you can tell when an opener is someone that has just gone onto Beatport's Top 100 [to buy their] Deep House [tracks] and is trying to do it, as opposed to someone who loves and collects the music they are playing. You can always hear passion in a DJ's set." Craig Richards takes it one step further: "I'm absolutely certain that the music lovers, not the DJs, are fit for the job—the people who can forget themselves for a moment and deliver a groove, a beginning and a sense of belief." The best openers are in many ways the people who are true music lovers, the ones who obsessively collect obscure and eclectic music for the simple joy of it. These DJs know their music so well they intuitively know there is a right track to play in each moment for any audience. Opening a room requires the ability to step outside what you want to play and, instead, to be conscientious of what the crowd is willing to accept. "As a DJ you have to find the middle ground of being yourself and being mindful of what you think will work on the dance floors of the world's clubs," Yousef explains, "I always play the music I love but I'm experienced enough to enjoy a broad selection of electronic music." Each DJ I spoke with emphasized the need for an opener to have an extensive range in musical tastes and, most importantly, the patience to hold back, and to slowly build the tension in preparation for the headliner. For both Lawler and Burridge, each sees the role of the opener as important as his own role as the headliner. Lawler tries and takes an opener with him to gigs, "so I know the energy and vibe will be right when I go on." But they each tell me it is often the promoter who chooses a DJ not fit for the role, or sometimes, Burridge says, "The promoter has been known to come into the booth and tell the warm-up to pick it up." In either case, it reveals a lack of understanding in how a night develops. Whereas a nervous promoter wants to see the dance floor packed with people pumping their fists in the air from the start, all the DJs I spoke with saw this as detrimental to the night as a whole. As Richards put it, "There can be nothing worse than an over-enthusiastic start—a soup that burns the mouth or curtains ripped open to let the light in." But this ultimately leads to one question for the promoter: If you are going to spend the money to fly in and accommodate a world-class DJ, why not spend the extra time and money to get your guest a proper opener? With the high risk inherent in throwing an event coupled with a lack of understanding about the role of the opener, DJs who are picked to warm up a night are often inexperienced and more often than not, underpaid. A promoter can spend thousands of dollars on a headliner, and to rein in costs, will often only spend a couple of hundred on an opener. So obviously, great opening DJs aren't in it for the money. Instead, these DJs are perhaps the purest music fan in every sense of the word. Since the opener's artistry is built upon subtlety, they rarely receive any accolades. The media often overlooks good warm-ups, instead focusing on the headliners, and only knowledgeable crowds will recognize the skill that goes into the nuance and restraint of slowly building the tension in a room. This often leaves only the headliner's gratitude as any sign of appreciation. In fact, the biggest reward an opener receives is the opportunity to explore musical territory a headliner often cannot. Playing opening sets "gives justification for buying records that you know will only sound right at certain times," says Craig Richards. "The chance to hear these records loud was and still is my driving force. Playing deep, quirky, delicate tunes at a time when they make sense is an utter pleasure to the man who seeks the truth for the music not the limelight." Successful venues and events have always recognized what a proper opener provides: The atmosphere that is the foundation of any event.

DJs, We need bare minimums

The DJ is the new rockstar. It’s the new cool. It’s the new thing to do. Every dorm room has at least 10-15 aspiring dj’s on each floor with a dj app on their iphone wondering how what are the necessary steps to get a gig. Usually there is only one step, and thats meeting the right person.  Nowadays, its so easy to get a gig as a DJ it’s to the point where when people are beginning to fail in other industries they start to think “I guess I could just become a dj…”  This is a problem…


DJ’ing didn’t used to be the lucrative industry it is today. There was a time where DJ’s weren’t being flown out to clubs all over the nation and paid thousands of dollars. There was a time where DJ’s practiced for hours a day, and spent much of their small paychecks on records because it was something they were passionate about.  I’ll spare you the old “back in the day” stories, but yes, DJ’s worked hard, for very little money for a very long time.

Cut to the rise of the open format DJ. Thanks to the late DJ AM, people started to appreciate the impact a DJ has on the nightlife experience. People actually started to pay attention to the fact there was someone working hard up there in that booth to make you enjoy your night. The DJ booth went from a hidden corner of the bar somewhere to front and center, and started to become the center of attention of the party.  Flyer’s were made with the face of the DJ on them and DJ’s had logo’s, stickers, wristbands, t-shirts, sneakers.  DJ’s became a brand, and started getting sponsorships.  Started being represented by the same agents that represent rock stars and musicians.  They got TV show’s and commercial appearances.  DJ’s became cool.
Naturally, with any booming/lucrative industry comes the hype. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a DJ. There is nothing wrong with thinking DJing is cool. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a culture/art/profession that DJ’s worked so hard to make it what it is today. The problem lies within the industry itself.

This isn’t a turntable vs controller argument. This isn’t a edm vs open format statement. This isn’t a producer vs dj statement. The problem is this…
There is no order, no organization to this industry. It’s everyone for themselves. You want to be a dj? All it takes is having music (on a laptop or hard drive) and knowing the right people. If you know lots of people, or you are already popular in entertainment (tv, music, film, modeling) then you’re pretty much guaranteed a job. Now that this industry has become a lucrative one, that drives lots of money to bars, clubs, and venues, the priorities shift to the profits it brings in rather than the quality of the actual product/service. This is where you get your celeb dj’s because they bring in lots of people which = lots of money. Conversely, its also where you get your microwave djs, that just purchased a laptop, just purchased a dj software, downloaded beatport’s top 100 and the hottest tracks of the year, and are ready to play out for a bar tab or hundreds of dollars less than the other dj, cuz “dj’ing is fun.” Bars and clubs get to save money on entertainment, this dj gets a gig, its a win-win right?
Maybe I’m just bitter. Maybe I’m just complaining, while I have the dream job, where I get paid to do what I enjoy as a hobby… Maybe I should just accept it… cuz DJ’ing isn’t that tough anyway right? I mean really all we’re doing is playing other peoples music right?….
Let me explain for those of you who are unfamiliar with what goes in to DJ’ing before I continue on with this…. (This is a very abridged version by the way)

Practice: This is usually but not limited to dealing with technical skills, (scratching, juggling, mixing, transitions, tricks, etc)

Music Library: as an open format dj, you gotta keep up with not only whats hot in multiple genres, but you also have to be able to work it into your set in a way that makes sense and will sound good. This takes lots of preparation. This could involve lots of organization, and in general you just have to have lots of music and know your music very well.

Production: If you are a dj that produces also, whether its custom edits, remixes, original tracks, there is lots of work that goes into that as well.

Programming: This has NOTHING to do with writing code, or html, or computers. This has everything to do with how the night (at a bar, club, venue) flows from beginning to end. There is a reason why you don’t hear the biggest hits of the night at 9pm. The same reason why you don’t hear the most chill, background music type songs at midnight. There is a method to how DJ’s choose what songs get played when, and how we transition from song to song. This method is called programming. The way a dj programs a night is probably one of the most important and underrated responsibilities of the dj, and this process is only learned by experience. You can’t learn how to feel out a crowd by sitting in your bedroom. You can’t learn to adapt to a situation without actually being in the situation.

Business Side: Everything else, from marketing, networking, to promo etc, since we are our own business, and brand.

Like I said, there is plenty more that goes into it, but these are some of the things DJ’s have to work on daily to be good at what they do, hoping that it translates to success.
Unfortunately, many of these aspects of DJ’ing become overlooked, and without organization to the industry, there is no standard or bare minimum to stress the importance of these aspects.
Example: Say you want to join the job force. You want to become an architect, an investment banker, a doctor, a lawyer, a president of a fortune 500 company, etc. What are the steps to getting into that industry?

1. Education: You take classes, study, learn the in’s and out’s. Learn the history. Then someone quizzes/tests you on how well you know this information then you work hard to achieve good grades showing you are in fact well averse in this field.
2. Training: You get an internship or volunteer, or get a job shadowing apprenticeship where you don’t make any money, but you get important on-site experience. You get to apply the information you took classes on or at least get to see it applied in real life. The information becomes an actual experience instead of words you just read in a book. You get to work with someone who has extensive knowledge and experience and pick their brain. They mentor you, and show you the ropes, the do’s and don’t's. You learn, grow, and apply yourself in hopes that this person will eventually co-sign you and maybe write you a nice letter of recommendation.
3. Resume: If you want to apply to any job, you have to have a nice resume to show why you are competitive and what makes you the right candidate for the job. You have to show your knowledge and experience in the field you are applying to.
4. Someone hires you: Someone assesses you based off of your knowledge, experience, talent, skill, and hires you because you were the right person for the job.
All these steps may take years, but it is necessary to create quality. You want the person that fixes your car to actually know what they’re doing, and have had experience in the field? or are you okay with the guy that “has an app…” The DJ Industry should be treated no differently. We need a union, or some sort of structure. We need something that drives the quality and makes it a little bit harder to get a gig than “I know a promoter…”
Right now there are plenty of DJ schools, and classes, and various institutions that teach the basics of DJ’ing/production etc. These institutions are making plenty of money and the attendance is booming. However, it’s similar to a school that just gives everyone an A. Where is the prestige? Where is the standard you are creating? taking a class and learning the basics should not be the end of the process.
There should be DJ Internships/apprenticeships. You want to be a DJ? You want a gig? You don’t care about getting paid right now? Cool… don’t undercut. Don’t steal another dj’s potential gig. Make friends with a DJ ask him if you can learn from him. Ask him if you can be his understudy. Go with him to his gigs, carry his bags, set up his equipment. If you want to intern at a law firm you might have to go fetch someone some coffee. This is no different. Learn the ropes. Show your mentor your skill level, ask him for advice. Show him you’re practicing and working hard and let him see your improvement. Make them believe in you. Get them to the point where they would co-sign for you and recommend you. Then when you are finally ready, and you get your first gig, build that resume. Keep working hard. Practice more and learn more. Eventually all the hard work will pay off. This would at least take care of the new DJ problem, where DJ’s nowadays don’t want to help anyone else out for fear that they are just simply creating competition for themselves and allowing for someone less talented and less experienced to steal their gig for less money.
At the end of the day we’re not going to be able to stop random C-List Hollywood celeb/actor from trying his/her hand at dj’ing, and successfully landing a high paying gig at big clubs. But at least if we create some standards and bare minimums, we can drive the quality of DJ’ing up, and change the general publics outlook on what (GOOD) DJ’ing actually is. That way, when they hear Random Model/actor spinning for their first time at popular Las Vegas nightclub, they’ll know how horrible they are, and maybe they won’t spend 100′s of dollars to see them train-wreck all night.
hit me up on twitter @djpaimon if you agree, disagree, or want to discuss!

Credit : DJ Paimon

EDM/House Music - Why the underground should drop the grudge

It’s Sunday night, and the Tomorrowland festival is in its final stages in the De Schorre National Park in Belgium. Berlin-based dubstep and techno producer Paul Rose, aka Scuba, obviously feels like stirring the pot a little. He retweets a photo from Nicky Romero, taken from behind the decks as David Guetta plays to a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands in in the final few hours of the festival, the Frenchman holding up a recording device up as a sea of punters raise their hands in the air.

Scuba’s posts are a little less effusive, though. “Could there be a more undeserving person on stage who records what he sees on a camcorder? If you’re on stage you’re performing, you’re not a tourist….perform, don’t take photos or video of the audience.”
Next, Scuba’s attention turns towards another of what he terms an “easy target”, Calvin Harris, the very same person the Wall Street Journal took to task in its infamous attack on ‘EDM’ culture for producing “cliché-riddled, white-bread house that don’t represent the best of the genre”. Scuba promises to share an “amazing story” about Harris for 100 retweets; within no time, he’s racked up over 150, he’s trending in the UK, and the revelation is dropped.

Scuba’s tweets are about as irreverent as they come, but they highlight one of dance music’s interesting dichotomies: the ‘Us vs Them’ tension between the ‘underground’ and the ‘overground’ (or what’s nowadays pretty much slapped with the term ‘EDM’). The argument is nearly as old as dance music itself: the ‘authentic’ underground steeling itself against the mass-market players responsible for polluting their subculture. It’s a contradiction that’s defined dance culture since its first peak of popularity in the late ‘90s.
Dance music embodies both the most creatively uncompromising and the tackiest elements that any music culture is capable of. On the one side, you’ve got the heads-down ‘underground’, driven by the supposed purity of its artistic integrity, producing music that’s impenetrable to anyone not already deeply entrenched in the culture. On the other side, you’ve got DJs popping champagne bottles and flying in private jets, surrounded by girls, glitz and glamour. They play a watered-down derivative, made by producers-for-hire and slapped with the name of the bankable DJ for mass consumption. Or so the story goes.
That narrative was given yet another whirl recently when Deadmau5 published his notorious ‘We all hit play’ blog post, later echoing similar sentiments when he graced the cover of Rolling Stone (who’ve all of a sudden discovered a newfound love of dance music, after pointedly ignoring it for decades). The comments actually ignited a fairly interesting debate, with everyone from A-Trak to Bassnectar weighing in with measured commentary.
What was more interesting, though, was some of the vitriol it inspired from the underground house and techno scenes. London stalwart Mr C had only recently lambasted DJs as “fakes & charlatans” for standing “with their arms raised in the air”, so it’s hardly surprising he was less than pleased. “FUCK YOU IN EVERY ORIFICE,” was the conclusion of his message to Deadmau5.
A Guy Called Gerald’s most recent Australian tour was in late 2011, though his history in dance culture stretches back as far as the ‘80s, and his response was equally as vitriolic. “You come into our system that we have nurtured for the last 25 years, trick hardworking people into giving you their money, con honest promoters, take large sums of money out of the system and then spit back into our faces that YOU are tricking everyone,” he wrote on his blog. “I agree there are loads of people like you who do fake it. It is easy with the software you are using. Don’t worry we are going to find ways of stopping you. You greedy rat head fuck.”

“Everyone is screaming for their little slice of attention”

Is the increasing commercialisation of dance music around the world actually posing a threat to the subculture? Looking beyond DJ Sneak’s ongoing war of attrition against the Swedish House Mafia, how much truth is there to these assertions?
To get some perspective on it all, inthemix sought out some of dance music’s most articulate players to weigh in on this feature. Last week we spoke to US mainstay and Ovum Records head Josh Wink, who was curating a stage at Tomorrowland. Wink has maintained a solid presence since rising from the American rave scene of the early ‘90s, with his own characteristic blend of house and techno that’s never gone out of style. He says he’s witnessed a shift in what motivates producers and DJs to get involved in the first place.
“I got into this music because it happened upon me, it was just something that I wanted to do, I didn’t know how to do anything else,” he told us. “The fame and the success was just a by-product mistake of doing something that I wanted to do.
“So many people now get involved because they solely want their face on a magazine, the champagne, the limousines, the models, the blowjobs in the booth,” he laughs. “It’s a different thing when you look at how people get into it these days, how they see it and what they want to emulate.”
Has social networking – the platform for breaking down the barriers between artists and fans – actually been responsible for transforming the way the music itself is produced? UK producer Matt Thomas, aka King Unique, told inthemix he’s witnessed dramatic changes in the past few years alone in the value attached to artistic output.
“It’s reflective of the whole Facebook culture, that steady stream of activity running past your eyes all the time,” Thomas told ITM. “If you have a YouTube link, there’s no need to own 90-percent of the music you’re hearing. There used to be a paradigm where you could make a fantastic tune, and rest on the laurels of that for a while. These days though, records have their day really quickly. There’s a living to be made in the studio, but you had better be prolific.”
It’s a trend that also highlighted by Australia’s own James Cayzer, better known as Jaytech, who just last week released his new Multiverse album on Anjunabeats. In some instances, he argues, social media actually affects the product. “It’s impacted music, via the fact that it’s encouraging the music industry, the producers and the DJs, to head in a musical direction that’s more viral and sharable,” he said. “Also because the scene has so much more attention now than it used to, it becomes about ‘attention grabbing’. There’s more techniques and tactics in place to try and win as much attention as possible… everyone is screaming out to get their little slice of attention from the overall populous.
“It’s quite obvious when people are making their music more about the marketing,” he adds. “The YouTube views, the Facebook fans, the hits on their websites and the results, rather than starting from the groundwork of the musical experience itself.”
Taken in this broader context of fame, fortune and Facebook, John Askew’s acerbic interview with inthemix last year starts to make a little more sense. “I have cut away all unnecessary and hugely time consuming online self masturbation that seems to have become so essential for those who care about ‘working their way up the ladder’,” he told us. “The attraction of making more money and getting a higher position in the DJ Mag Top 100 is a seductive prospect for a lot of impressionable young DJ/producers and I entirely sympathise with those who get sucked into it, but I’m not impressionable.”

“No one would think Rihanna is suddenly an electronic act”

There’s also the point of view that all the discussion centred around the ‘EDM explosion’ is actually a misnomer and misconception – the ‘underground’ and the ‘overground’ are in fact completely different things, with no tangible link. The latter is more a fleeting evolution of the standard pop market than anything else.
Paul van Dyk was another of the heavyweights hosting his own arena at the recent Tomorrowland festival. Though there’s many who’d lump him into the ‘EDM’ category, he’s always declared his own iron-fisted allegiance to ‘authentic’ underground music. In the current recent issue of the UK’s DJ Mag, he’s brought attention to what he labels as a fundamental disconnect in the discussion of the pop-dance phenomenon.
“Let’s put it this way. What I define as electronic music, it’s not any more popular now than it was two years ago. The stuff that is extremely popular in America is that danceable stuff that Rihanna produces; but I don’t think anybody would really think that Rihanna is suddenly an electronic act. It’s just basically the sound of the pop world right now,” he told DJ Mag.
“The fact that names like these are suddenly becoming representatives for American house music is a clear joke,” he went on. “Right now it seems to be acting like the normal touring pop market in many ways, and it’s not about a ‘scene’ as such. it still exists, and it’s still as big as it has been, but what people are referring to as the big ‘explosion’ of electronic dance music hasn’t much to do with that…I don’t really care much about Rihanna.” Or Calvin Harris, you’d assume; the regular tour DJ and We Found Love collaborator for the pop starlet.
It’s a topic that clearly gets PvD’s blood boiling, and near identical sentiments are expressed by Cayzar. However, he plays down any assertions that Guetta and co. are responsible for watering down dance culture on a grand scale.
“I have faith in the punter’s intelligence to discern between those two areas of music. I do feel the ‘EDM’ thing, the more pop-orientated house scene, and the more classic-style underground dance scene, are two very different things. Obviously it’s on a much bigger scale than anything that’s come before, but it also is a different classification of music. it’s a more commercially orientated style of music, and a more commercially orientated style of scene.”
Cayzer has a positive outlook on the possibility of the two zones to co-exist. “I don’t think there’s any reason underground dance music can’t thrive alongside the EDM scene…I never felt like it’s anything but a good thing, because it’s good to move things forward musically, and it’s good to move onto something else. If you don’t like where we’re at musically, you really only have to deal with it another five or so years, and the whole thing will disintegrate and put itself back together again, in another completely different form.”
Similarly to King Unique’s observations on the culture shock amongst his producer colleagues when looking at some of dance music’s big earners, Cayzer suggests those who’ve made their living in underground dance are somewhat resentful of the pop-dance success stories.
“You do have a lot of DJ/producers who are relatively new to the whole thing; even though their approach is quite similar to what people have done in the past, they’re being rewarded a thousand-fold more. I think that’s where a lot of the resentment comes from, but I think at the end of the day, everyone is just going out and making the music the way they want to.”
An event like Tomorrowland is the perfect example of where it becomes harder to lump the ‘underground’ and ‘overground’ into disparate camps. Guetta’s Sunday night performance felt much closer to a mass-scale rave than a pop concert; and meanwhile, on the same festival site, Chris Liebing and Dave Clarke led the Castle Stage, Richie Hawtin was manning his own dark and sweaty ENTER tent, and Steve Bug was getting ready to hand it over to Josh Wink at his Ovum Recordings arena.
While Scuba might enjoy hurling grenades on Twitter, there’s a well-placed sense of irony in his own work that’s seen him explicitly exploring these tensions himself. The opening of his 2012 album Personality sets itself up as an obtuse exercise in dubstep purism, with a grumpy opening monologue decrying the lack of substance in modern music; before subverting these expectations with his most melodic and accessible work to date. Ne1butu, Scuba’s old-school rave tribute, comes complete with piano riffs and high-pitched MC samples. The summery vibes and dizzying synth stabs of July, in turn, are more euphoric than anything Armada Music’s 30-strong posse of record labels could hope to manage.

“I look at it as a positive now”

Josh Wink has often enjoyed more of a natural affinity with Europe over the past decade than his home country. He’s not overflowing with affirmations that the pop-dance revolution will result in a considerable “trickle down” effect for underground dance in the USA. However, he remains positive about the potential for listeners to be guided in the right direction.
“Fads and trends run their course,” he says. “But if someone gets interested in electronic music through hearing a Swedish House Mafia track, and next thing you know they dig deeper, go to Discogs and see that Steve Angello had a release on Subliminal Records; then they check out Erick Morillo, who had a remix on one of his albums from Josh Wink. Next thing you know, someone getting into music for its commercial dance appeal will find somebody else like me, Jeff Mills, Joey Beltram. You never know. So I look at it as a positive now.”
Equally, there’s artists who successfully straddle the divide. “Tiga went from being an underground name, to a more pop-orientated vocal artist, though he’s kept his underground credibility,” he says. “Luciano is someone who has an underground record label, and puts out underground music, but so many people know about him now. He becomes more of a commercial name, though the music that he releases and plays is still really cool and raw.”
And for all the artists like Sneak who view the pop-dance brigade as a genuine musical menace, there’s others who view it in a more positive fashion. Australia’s Rick Bull, aka Deepchild, departed Sydney for the techno capital of Berlin in 2009, and has become one of the country’s most successful exports on that end of the spectrum. Talking to inthemix for this feature, he admits he’s impartial to a bit of commercial hip hop and RnB, something that’s worked its way into his music via the distorted vocals that make a reappearance on his upcoming Neukölln Burning album.
“I don’t think exposure to a more diverse range of music, in any realm, is ever a bad thing,” Bull told inthemix. “I’ve benefitted so greatly from listening to a lot of commercial hip hop and RnB. I don’t think that’s damaged my own music, or narrowed my appreciation of different forms; I’d say it’s definitely widened it. A particular style of music might not be my thing, but I don’t think it’s helpful to judge other people because it is their thing. I think the renewed interest in pop-dance has been a great thing. It’s certainly no threat to me.”
Placing ‘authentic’ dance and ‘EDM’ in opposing camps might be missing the point, Bull adds. “I’ve never found the definitions to be useful ones, let alone reflective of the reality. When you have a club like Fabric releasing amazing mix compilations featuring so-called ‘underground’ music…and it’s a really popular club. How do you define it? It’s just a bit of a red herring. It’s kind of like the whole ‘vinyl vs CDs’ debate, all of a sudden the quality of the music becomes a secondary issue. Let’s just talk about the music we’re playing and listening to.”

Credit : In The Mix

EDM Kaskade kicked off the decks "countless times"

In the last days of 2012, DJ Shadow shared ‘The Infamous South Beach Set’ that got him kicked off the decks at Miami’s Mansion nightclub. “I’ve waited a long time to play here,” he told the dancefloor after getting the tap on the shoulder, “but they said this shit is too future.” The widely-publicised incident, which prompted an apology from Mansion, certainly wasn’t the first of its kind in 2012. Speaking to U.S. house hero Kaskade down the line from his L.A. home this morning, inthemix asked if he’s ever been kicked off the decks.
“I’ve been kicked off the decks so many times in my career, I’ve lost count,” Kaskade laughed. “That’s happened to me countless times. I think that’s in the nature of what DJs do. If you’re [a promoter] not up on what’s happening in electronic music culture, then you might think you can just get someone in to play the hits, and they don’t know we’ve moved beyond that. Shadow’s going to come in and most likely play things he’s produced and music from his friends and people he’s got behind. It’s not going to be the hits.”
As Kaskade sees it, DJs being cut short isn’t necessarily happening more nowadays – it’s just much easier to hear about it. “Now it’s interesting because of where social media is at,” he told inthemix. “When somebody gets kicked off the decks, like Mark Farina or Dennis Ferrer, everybody knows about it instantly. Now you can talk to the club directly, like, ‘What, are you guys idiots? Kicking off a legend?’
“Before, when I got kicked off the decks, it was pre-Twitter. The last time it happened was in Miami at Winter Music Conference in front of 7,000 people. It wasn’t that long ago; right around the time when Twitter was just starting. I think that’s the last time it happened, or maybe it’s just the last one I remember, ‘cause it was in front of such a large audience!”

Credit : InTheMix

THE GREAT EDM DEBATE

This week, Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers publicly slated Swedish House Mafia as being "drivel" and said that intelligent dance music is being killed.
His comments are symptomatic of a feeling that is becoming ever more widespread. Respected heads such as DJ Sneak, A Guy Called Gerald and Scuba have all taken pot shots at EDM artists and that respective scene over the course of the last year.
It's clear that a bitter rift is slicing the dance music community in two. On the one side are those who think that EDM is diluting dance music and failing to introduce ingenious sounds to a mainstream audience, on the other are those who believe that EDM is truly revolutionary and buzzing with creative energy.
These opposing feelings are spilling into the public sphere with increasing regularity thanks to social networking platforms through which leading artists and tastemakers speak their minds.
Ed Simons' comments were sparked by Tommie Sunshine, a long-serving US DJ who has become something of an online spokesman for the EDM scene. The pair had an argument on Twitter, followed by Sunshine becoming embroiled in another discussion on the merits of EDM with Ben Gomori, dance music journalist and DJ/producer.

Words: Ben Gomori
Ben Gomori is a freelance music journalist who has written for Mixmag, The Times, Music Week and Resident Advisor. He is also a DJ/producer and helms the Eastern Electrics podcast
“Why is everyone from the roots of this music so fucking salty about the ones who are going mainstream,” American DJ and producer Tommie Sunshine asked Ed Simmons of The Chemical Brothers on Twitter this week, seemingly without a hint of irony. He and others have totally missed the point. Ed - and people like myself - don't have a problem with artists “going mainstream” if they continue to make good, heartfelt, sophisticated, challenging music. Daft Punk, The Prodigy and Basement Jaxx all did it successfully and maintained both a degree of underground dance music cool plus global chart and mega-festival headlining success. Alas, in these super-manufactured, low-rent days of X-Factor and laptop producers, it's a balance that is struck less often.
What we have a problem with is the current raft of identikit drivel that soaks up the chart; anaemic facsimiles of music we love. We have a problem with the music not being the focal point. We have a problem with dance music being used as a template for pop music if it has everything that made it so good for dancing to sucked right out of it.
Commercial dance music from the mid-90s to early-00s stands the test of time because in most cases, tracks crossed over from the clubs into the charts unintentionally. Armand Van Helden wasn't thinking about the UK Number 1 spot when he remixed Tori Amos' ‘Professional Widow’ in revolutionary fashion. Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter and his Stardust cohorts can't have anticipated what would have happened to their vinyl-only pressing of ‘Music Sounds Better With You’. Josh Wink's ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’ in the Top 10 of the UK chart? A track with acid squeals so shrill it's almost painful to listen to and the smallest hint of a vocal? Can you even imagine an instrumental track of any kind making it into the charts these days? And this was before tracks could gain popularity through the internet.
Major labels were investing tons of money in that era to scout and sign dancefloor fillers with crossover appeal. As a result, dozens of quality, credible classics remain in the collective consciousness of people who grew up in those years – whether they were listening to their siblings' ‘Now’ compilations or clubbing themselves. This bubble burst not long after the major labels decided to exploit the sounds they had found so much success with and attempt to reverse-engineer chart hits with supposed club sensibility. These chart-dance hits became contrived and increasingly tacky and experiments in applying electronic cool to pop stars' careers only seldom yielded positive results (The good: Madonna's Mirwaïs-produced Music; the bad: anything by Sophie Ellis-Bextor).
In the USA mainstream, dance music is once again being exploited. By that I'm not trying to be dramatic; I simply mean that I don't believe that many of its most commercial protagonists give a flying fuck about it or its long-term future. As we've seen with hip-hop, the American music mainstream has a way of taking something incredible that it originally created and bastardising it almost beyond recognition.
If it's done well, dance-meets-pop can be interesting and exciting while maintaining widespread appeal. Much of Madonna's best work rooted its feet in the dancefloors of New York, for one notable example. In terms of contemporary success, Chase & Status have injected new energy into Roc Nation's biggest names, bass and garage-minded producers are helping the likes of Jessie Ware proliferate and dubstep had moments of genius via La Roux and others before it become just another pop beat template with none of the vigour and bite that made it so exciting in the first place.
The most exciting thing about electronic music is its lack of limitations and how it has lead the way in musical innovation since the 1970s. From the dance scene being the first to adopt digital downloads en masse to being the only area of music to truly evolve in the last 40 years in terms of technology, composition and texture, it's something we dance lovers should always remember, promote and cherish. I implore producers in the USA to be inspired by the countless electronic innovators we can claim.
The potential is there for commercial dance-pop to sound a lot better than it does now, but few are daring to tap it up. If this is the beginning of a brave new world that sees electronic pop take more risks and become more sophisticated, then great. If it provides a gateway into less commercially-minded, more underground dance music to millions of young Americans, then even better. But at this point, I don't feel hugely sanguine about the situation. I see an increasing polarisation, with EDM continuing to become a caricature of itself until it implodes into nothingness.

Words: Tommie Sunshine
Tommie Sunshine is a long-serving DJ/producer who has completed over 300 remixes of artists such as Peaches, James Murphy, Felix Da Housecat and Arthur Baker
In my lifetime I have not witnessed a more inflammatory acronym than EDM. The kids who are new to electronic music burn with passion for it and the majority of the old-skool producers and fans are filled with seething hatred for what has happened to “their” music. These are artists who’ve won Grammys and made some of the most important records in the history of this music, people who have been dedicated to this culture for years, yet they are worried about kids in their early twenties who are having a good time breaking through just like they once did. The youth have always had the power. Adults think they have power over kids but they never have and never will. These are outdated power structures that have been eliminated by digital culture.
Sure, the music has changed but so has every single other thing in the whole world. Old people and purists always cry about how everything was better before. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the late 80s and witnessed house music birth itself to the world. It was an amazing, special time and I was very fortunate to have experienced it. However, my eyes look forward to the rest of my life. Nostalgia has no place in my day. The music and how it’s made has changed a dozen times since then. But, unlike the past, we are now taking over America’s commercial airwaves, shutting down metropolitan cities for festivals and invading the whole of American youth culture; it’s working, finally. I couldn’t be a happier man and am proud to be a part of it both socially and professionally.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can say that I’ve always wanted to see dance music become pop music in America. No country needs the lessons laid out by our culture more than America. Europe has had this for two decades now and there the “underground” is clearly defined (or so you’d think). I watch Boiler Room videos where adults all but push each other out of the way to get in the lights behind the DJ, no different than the kids at a Tiesto show. I would guess that there isn’t one more sloppy kid on drugs at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas than there is at The Warehouse Project in Manchester. Berlin has a lot more in common with Los Angeles than anyone involved would ever dare to admit. That being said, we all share a common interest in the desire to lose ourselves and our egos on a dancefloor to the music of our choice, in our own personal way. So why is it that we must fight about it?
I feel like there are more amazing producers now than there ever were. I do not see anything lacking and when I do, I turn to the left and there is a whole new genre with a supporting scene intact to keep it more than. I have nothing but hope for the future of this music, of this culture. Being a part of it is the only thing in my life I’ve ever found outside of love itself that I’ve never turned out being bored of.
There are countless tracks from countless scenes that right now are bound together by our very strong love for this culture. Please consider taking a second look at what you may first dismiss. I bet you’ll be surprised by what you’ve disregarded. Keep an open heart, an open mind and remember that EDM is three letters that mean whatever you want them to. If they anger you, call your house, house, and get on with your life. The world is full of chaos and our time here is too short to warrant such banter.

 

Credit : MixMag