News
28 June 2010
The views in this article are those expressed by Andy Neville and not the general opinion of TLM.So, for years now we find ourselves caught up in the debate about the demise of vinyl and the rise of technology and download culture and is this what is leading to the decline of the dance music industry that we all love?
With Englands football team againing playing woeful football this brings forward the point of egotiscal footballers getting paid far too much and not delivering on a worldwide stage, the same can be said of DJ's and producers and this HAS played and still plays a part in the demise of dance culture.
I remember back to 1989 going to all the old raves like Raindance, Telepathy, World Party where you would meet up with 1000's people just like you that were there because they loved music, it was not a fashion or cool thing it wasn't about who you were with, what you were wearing, what you were drinking (water mostly), it was about one thing MUSIC!
Clubs have become victims of a situation of their own making, english football is suffering as we clearly do not support up and coming talent like the european and south american countries do, and the same can be said of the club industry who support the same highly paid DJ's who for the most part are very good and very entertaining DJ's, but some of these so called premier league DJ's have performed shameful DJ sets but people don't seem to care because of who they are and the club doesn't care as they bring in the numbers. It was no different in the commercial club circuit where I cut my teeth as a DJ, the same 6-7 big DJ's would get all the big new clubs and I remember sitting in DJ meetings with the big cheese's from these companies and listening to them go on about where the new talent was, when it was right there staring them in the face with about 7-8 very good DJ's as well as myself but the support was never given.
Like footballers bigtime DJ's rely on support and they rely on the support of small labels sending them FREE promo's and yes I agree that they must get swamped with yousendit links and download requests, but if they find something they like and that they are gonna play, should they not take the time to send the label even the briefest of e-mails to let them know they like it? In my opinion if someone takes the trouble to send you something for free that shows that they value your opinion. Part of the problem lies with labels as well who blanket promo every big name DJ in the world and send them stuff that they wouldn't play in a million years, Tony Humpries will not play Fidget Electro but I bet he gets sent it? Labels need to do their homework and target DJ's that will play their sound and in turn with the number of labels now out there this could help decrease the DJ's inbox and maybe get more favourable reponses.
Vinyl has fallen victim to economic business and nothing less, it is no cheaper now to produce vinyl than it was 15yrs ago, and vinyl sales suffered the fate of any other small business like butchers who have all but a few been driven out of business by the likes of Tesco and Asda etc...Indie record stores fell foul to the like of HMV, Virgin and the big stores that bought loads and sold cheap. I came from a distribution background selling vinyl to stores and a lot of stores that had an HMV near them wouldn't buy a lot of stuff as they couldn't compete with HMV so again DJ's that didn't go to HMV were potentially missing out and then when they realised what was happening they started to shop in HMV and only buy the odd white label bits from the smaller stores hence their takings dropping and eventually driving them out of business. Price standarisation could have helped in this situation but now it would be like trying to raise a phoenix from the ashes.
Producers now play their part too as like footballers some suffer huge ego's and believe the hype about themselves and ask for remix fees that are so way off its almost comedic. I understand that if you are good at what you do you should be paid well for it, but be realistic! Major labels work with producers that they deem to be hot at the time and they pay them big money, then their skill becomes business not love, do you think David Beckham on the money he is on would go and play a game for a bunch of part-time sunday league players? Highly unlikely, but one day that big money will dry up and then what? Does he go back to just playing for love, doubtful with the money he has earned. Dance music cannot garner you the kind of Beckham money, for sure you can make some quick time money whilst you are in favour and turn your backs on the smaller labels that cannot pay your fee, but it's those labels that are gonna support you when the majors move on from you, and when you success gets you DJ gigs its them very same labels that are gonna be sending you FREE promo's that you are not gonna respond to.
I had a producer recently wanted $1500 dollars for a remix that had had 1 number one on Beatport? So at an average return of 40-50p per download I would need to have sold almost 2500-3000 downloads to cover that remix, and as I now work again in digital distribution I see these names are very hit and miss and I have seen labels ride their hopes on these guys to be let down. If these guys are so confident in their ability then why not accept a smaller fee upfront and a % after that? The fact that they ask for a fee completely upfront shows lack of confidence on their part.
So I could go on all day but to summerise I think the economy and people are to blame for the demise of dance music culture, from the clubs paying DJ's huge fees and not supporting new talent, to producers and DJ's not supporting small labels that cannot pay their high fees, to the public that used to but music and even DJ's that used to spend £100 a week on vinyl would now rather download a track free rather than pay for it. The vinyl manufacturing companies that don't lower the price of manufacture to maybe drum up interest in vinyl again, to the download stores that make more money than anyone in this climate, the whole scene needs to change top-bottom and go back to the days when it was about passion, fun, it was a way of life and it was for the love of music, and not just a cash cow business which is what it has become. They say that the ones that can hurt you the most are those that you love, and those that love you, and I think everyone plays their part in hurting the dance music scene that we love.