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-- Oldschool = more aliases?
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What? Hold on, I never said you were an idiot... why would I even say that?

And why on Earth would I want to make you look stupid?! No wonder it's been a while since I last posted here, is everything supposed to be an attack in this place?

God damn you two, now I feel like I need to write a serious reply explaining my post.

I wasn't making fun of the question; I actually do think it's a good one and contract law and the music industry and economics and all that shit that is tied up in it is actually extremely interesting. I'm just getting sick of the fact that every time old trance comes up or modern trance comes up or just the word trance comes up, we get the same posts talking about how great it was back then, how it was "all about the music" and how shit the scene is now, how it is "all about the money". I love old trance as much as anyone on this forum, probably more than most, let's be honest, but the same replies to every god damn thread is just fucking old.

I didn't write a serious response because: 1) Trance-MB had already explained it (giving an accurate answer for maybe the first time in his posting career); and 2) I didn't have time to write a more detailed explanation of it and figured someone else would (which Jack thankfully did).

Also, South Park is great. Or at least was. I haven't watched it in a while, now.

quote:

Originally posted by Lews I wasn't making fun of the question (...) I didn't write a serious response

Just to make my post clear (in case it wasn't), that's all I said you did.

I'm surprised because I was hardly offensive, and only made fun of Redd's reaction when he took me way too seriously - and even then I tried not to keep it personal. You know what this place needs?! Love! Here's a group hug I'm sure we can all appreciate!

Breasts. I mean, yes.

I just wanted to explain the rationale behind WHY I didn't make a serious post, since Redd complained about it.

Also, breasts.

quote:

breasts

Annnnnd Lira saves the thread.

GUYS, can we get back to discussing OLDSCHOOL TRANCE for the 5 billionth fucking time? I feel we haven't discussed this enough.

Trance fans have to be one of the most lamentable groups of music listeners out there.

naw, the 50 year old rock guy working at guitar centre wondering why bands don't make proper rock. Now that is dedication.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney naw, the 50 year old rock guy working at guitar centre wondering why bands don't make proper rock. Now that is dedication.

Jazz and blues, guy. Jazz and blues.

quote:

Originally posted by enydo GUYS, can we get back to discussing OLDSCHOOL TRANCE for the 5 billionth fucking time? I feel we haven't discussed this enough.

Oh, right, oldschool trance!

No single post could tell you everything that happen because electronic music underwent some massive shifts in our lifetime.

• It's easier/cheaper to make music now: Purchase a couple of vst's, a host, and even a 14 year old can make music nowadays (I mean, I could also make music 16 years ago when I was myself a 14 year old kid, but it was hardly anything comparable to what my favourite producers were doing). This in turn led to the following problem...
  There are more producers, so the competition for good label deals are fiercer (for the good labels, that is, which are able to promote your work with some competence), and recognisable names probably have some advantage, reason why it's probably wise to stick to an alias;
  
• What System-J said: In this sense, your name (and performing live) is more important than being loyal to a label. Case in point: When Ferry Corsten came to Brasilia, he attracted a good crowd... which probably wouldn't have happened if DJ Sno-White came here. In the producers forum you can still find advice by old school producers telling noobies not to use their real name, in order to avoid being tethered to a particular label;
  
• If, that is, people do have fewer aliases now: Someone with more time on his hands should look it up.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Producers came up with different aliases primarily so they could sign different contracts with different record labels, allowing them to release more material and make more money. This was back when you actually made money from record sales and before web labels would pump out dozens of releases every month.

Also with just one label, that label decided if your track would be released or not, regardless if you thought it was a good track to release. Other labels might release your tracks, so in order to get it done you needed an alias due to the contract.
The one in my signature signed a contract to quick while being young and had to change his name in order to get anything released at all. Not even with the intention to earn a lot of money. If that was the intention he would have stopped producing years ago. Back then you needed a label to get publicity, as internet wasn't really available.

By the way, I think it was a good question Redd.

If I might chime in (and I apologize if I sound arrogant... I don't mean to - I'm just trying to be as direct and honest about how I do things here)...

Few years back, when I was much greener behind the ears than I am now, I released tracks under a couple different names, to try and differentiate between the different sounds/ styles I was making.

Later, I retired one of the aliases because it was starting to confuse fans.

When I did collaborative tracks with my brother, we created a single joint alias, so that he would receive more of an equal credit for a release than if we'd done a (Dawnchaser feat.*****) type of arrangement.

In the last couple years, I kicked up a new alias for a radically -different- style of trance (psy, as opposed to hard epic or progressive trance), mostly for marketing purposes, but also for certain artistic reasons (Dawnchaser was always meant to be more of an adventurer type of act, and Amiranu is more earthy, weird, and psychedelic, and tribal-like). I retired the old second alias I had, because it wasn't a sound I was vibing with anymore.

Labels don't really give a shit WHERE I release different tracks (as long as it's not the same track on 2 labels, for obvious reasons), but for the sake of not being confusing when approaching labels that release radically different styles, I keep my act names separate, so a psy label doesn't go asking why a euro-trance producer is sending them morning psy demos, and a hard trance label isn't scratching their heads at a facebook page full of photos of me DJing shirtless at a psy festival.

As such, I have a number of tunes under the name Dawnchaser spread out across several labels. Amiranu is also on a couple labels, and because I retired the old alias my brother and I used to use, I'm giving us a new name (for a new sound), and sending our new demo to a whole different set of labels.

It makes event promoters more comfortable too. With only one name, they know who and what they're booking for a DJ/live set, if your name has certain associations with it. When I get a booking for Dawnchaser, people know they're getting trance/breaks/prog/dnb. When I get booked as Amiranu, people know they're getting progressive/ morning psy (on rare occasion, DawnIranu gets booked for trance vs. psy, which is fun, but infrequent). Promoters feel safer because they know what audience I'll be targeting when I promote the show, and they know what to put on a flyer.

Within my main euro style act, I'll give more creative Mix name suffixes to tracks, to help fans and DJs keep better track of what's what. Gone Fishin' Mixes are more chilled out 128-133 bpm uplifting trance. Gone Campin' Mixes are more techy progressive type stuff. Adventure Trance Mixes are hard/ epic trance. Spirit of Adventure Mixes are breaktrance. etc.

Most artists now don't do that. But as you can see, it makes it simpler for people trying to find my music if I minimize the number of names I produce & DJ as - then get more diverse on Mix names. It keeps the sounds overall diverse, and searching for my music simple.

So, those are some reasons why producers nowadays tend to stick to one alias, rather than 10 bazillion.

At least, that's my take on it.

Any other producers out there wanna chime in with their thoughts?

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