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Posted by D Dubya on Mar-17-2004 18:45:

The State of the Union

I'm really worried about the future of electronic music. At least in Texas there is an increasing number of DJs, but a decreasing number of listeners. The increase in DJs might be a positive sign, but I really don't know how seeing as how there needs to be an audience to play to. Even Texas' main cities for this music Austin and Dallas have seen major declines. The Red Jacket in Dallas closed.... That's not a good sign. The Hooj Choons label shut down not long ago (for those of you who don't know who Hooj Choons is, shame on you). I look around and see all sorts of lounges and clubs shutting their doors if they arent willing to play straight rap and, as is the case down here, *shudder* tejano music. It's a really sad thing and I hope electronic gets its second wind that it needs. Is this just the case in Texas? I hope this isn't a nationwide / worldwide trend.....

Posted by Tranc3 on Mar-17-2004 19:19:

Re: The State of the Union

quote:
Originally posted by Dirk W.
I'm really worried about the future of electronic music. At least in Texas there is an increasing number of DJs, but a decreasing number of listeners. The increase in DJs might be a positive sign, but I really don't know how seeing as how there needs to be an audience to play to. Even Texas' main cities for this music Austin and Dallas have seen major declines. The Red Jacket in Dallas closed.... That's not a good sign. The Hooj Choons label shut down not long ago (for those of you who don't know who Hooj Choons is, shame on you). I look around and see all sorts of lounges and clubs shutting their doors if they arent willing to play straight rap and, as is the case down here, *shudder* tejano music. It's a really sad thing and I hope electronic gets its second wind that it needs. Is this just the case in Texas? I hope this isn't a nationwide / worldwide trend.....

Godskitchen is gonna be pouring a lot of money into Spundae over the next few years...

Posted by dcougar99 on Mar-17-2004 19:28:

The GLOW event in DC closed to move to a brand new venue... The new venue (FUR) its going to give Space a run for the best trance club in the US! I heard its going to have a bigger main floor then Space, Miami. Cant wait for the opening... its goin to be epic!

Posted by D Dubya on Mar-17-2004 19:47:

Spundae - Is that the Godskitchen / Smirnoff tour they are trying to kick off in the US? If so, that looks like it might be pretty tight.

Posted by nrjizer on Mar-17-2004 19:57:

Sounds to me like its just the _club_ scene that's sagging. More people need to get creative and throw some old fashoned, underground raves again in unique ways. Not that clubs aren't good fun, but I can see how going to the same venue every week can grow tiresome.

Posted by Boomer187 on Mar-17-2004 20:52:

quote:
Originally posted by Dirk W.
Spundae - Is that the Godskitchen / Smirnoff tour they are trying to kick off in the US? If so, that looks like it might be pretty tight.

Spundae puts on a bunch of big concerts in the us. But they recently got bought by godskitchen so now there will be more and mroe djs coming through...well hopefully.

and I have notived a lot more djs and less fans, but you have to expect that, as music becomes more popular people try to to play it themselves. just give it time.

Posted by borron on Mar-18-2004 01:39:

Here the opposite is happening. Practically every bar, disco and even cafe is playing some sort of electronic music. What seems to be lacking are the alternatives (jazz, etc)...

Posted by punchline on Mar-18-2004 06:29:

quote:
Originally posted by dcougar99
The GLOW event in DC closed to move to a brand new venue... The new venue (FUR) its going to give Space a run for the best trance club in the US! I heard its going to have a bigger main floor then Space, Miami. Cant wait for the opening... its goin to be epic!

I know, I can't wait. It's going to kill.

Posted by tranceCDs on Mar-18-2004 06:55:

quote:
Originally posted by punchline
I know, I can't wait. It's going to kill.

hell yea.

Posted by Nemesis44 on Mar-23-2004 19:04:

I wouldn't worry too much about it... very often clubs die off because they either price themselves out of the market or they rest on their laurels and do nothing to renew their image.
The other thing to realise, a lot of clubs close down to re-invent themselves and create new hype about a new club.

Scenes die off in one place and grow in another. What you has also happened at the moment is that the live music industry has fought back a little lately and there is a generation of people who like guitar orientated music. Seeing it from my perspective (age) I have seen dance music fade out and come back a whole load of times. It's all a question of generations. I'm in the same generation as most of the big DJs but there is a younger generation of DJs creeping in there. I think it may also do electronic dance music a bit of good to go back underground a little. That's usually one of the major times when a lot of ground work and development is done in terms of music.

Hooj Choons is largely responsible for it's own demise in my mind. Partly to do with the acts they had on the label as the majority of stuff was getting a little old and not really keeping up with the times. Hooj Choonse are often credited with a lot of great tracks that they didn't originally sign. Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar being the most famous, originally released on Bonzai. Hooj Choons mainly picked tracks up once they were a little bit bigger and thus put themselves in a weaker position.

Record labels go bust and spring up on a daily basis. A mate of mine runs 5, one of which has just gone bust... but then look at what the situation is... labels are often created for a particular sound of music and if that sound falls off then people don't usually look to that label for the new sound. Bonzai almost fell foul of that lately and almost lost Push as an artist.

Most DJs don't Dj for long... the average career of a DJ is 6 months to 2 years and over 90% never play out once. They often still remain fans of the music even if they are not DJs anymore so it's not a bad thing.

Clubland needs novelty nights sometimes to catch the eye of your average clubber. It just takes someone to package something in a way that people latch onto and you are off again.

One thing that has really hurt dance music is the superclubs like MoS and Godskitchen etc. The prices these guys charge for entrance is ridiculous. They nearly killed the Ibiza scene in the same way. This has caused people to choose other options.

Another thing that has given clubbing a bad name is crap residents who are so bad that people actually leave a because of it. Yes you have more DJs these days but you also have a lot more crap DJs and it is having an effect.

Oh well... that's my rant.

Cheers
Nem

Posted by D Dubya on Mar-26-2004 04:15:

Nem, you made a lot of good points in your book. And yea, I agree that maybe it will die down for a bit and phase back in like it always does. I just have my fingers crossed that when it phases back in it avoids the disco feel. Afros and heels aren't my thing....

We_R_DNA, I am guessing you're from Dallas. My friend went and saw PvD at Blue also and said it was the best show he has seen. I miss the old school raves that they used to have. The last one I almost went to (thank God I didnt go) got raided by the police and they just started arresting everyone on suspicion. Pretty retarded if you ask me. Go to any other kind of musical concert and you're going to find the same drug use, if not more. Well, except for Christian music concerts. I doubt those get too rowdy.