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And another message by Laurent:
Dear friends,
Once again here I am. Happy to read your messages. ❤
I had to face a lot of offensive reactions on the funding campaign, and I was ready for them so they didn’t surprise me much. I can’t get everyone to be in my shoes even for a minute and that’s inevitable that some people have to vent their own stress and frustration, it's their way to deal with their own struggles. A lot of people around us live with their own wounds, and it’s sometimes such a burden, so heavy to carry that it transforms people for better and worse. I know this because I used to have this rage in myself for decades and used to vent the exact same way.
There’s a lot to learn from this animosity as well. The fact that requesting help from a 229k fan base can upset some people because they feel like someone like me can’t be in their shoes, is one of those things I learned. I truly wish I could get them to see my perspective after 3 years without gigs and I can definitely see theirs, and the financial stress they are probably facing everyday, and I’m facing the exact same stress everyday, with a day job like theirs to pay bills and taxes, sometimes 3x their tax rate.
I was accused of not working either, which I believe is very odd, considering the amount of releases since 2019, the 5 synthesisers I worked on for third parties, the sound packs I've done, and the two day jobs I have ever since had on top of those to keep my family safe. Getting paid for the real value of one's work however, is sometimes a bit complicated and exhausting nowadays. But I can't complain about it.
It also looks like social media fed timelines with my post further than I had expected, while actually, my goal was to reach out to my fan base only, and not people who don’t know anything about my story or my music. That is awkward and unfortunate. I didn’t boost that first post, everything happened organically, and I honestly don’t know how a platform such as Fb can just spread this around people who do not care at all and probably felt harassed. I feel sorry about the inconvenience but it wasn’t my responsibility at all.
I saw a lot of colleagues in the post as well, supporting or not. Some of them stated I was lucky to be there before them and that I got all this money for my record sales. I had to remind that after all they were getting three or four times my fees for almost two decades which is in comparison much more (up to 3x as much) than I have ever earned with me record sales, something I never complained about, while losing big in unpaid royalties they were mentioning about (compilations, cd, vinyl sales), billed or not, at the peak of my career, which put me into persistent financial trouble for the decades that followed due to the giant gaslighting I put myself into. Not even beginning about the state of my mental health during all those years. But I know some of my colleague DJ's are suffering an awful lot.
A lot of colleagues also supported me (sending me a lot of messages on WhatsApp too which really felt heartwarming ) because they’ve known me for so many years and could see how I’m stuck with this story as a pan attached to my ankle. All I want is to get out of a very vicious circle.
In all cases, there was reaction, and that's already something positive on its own. And most of it was extremely encouraging.
This led me to the conclusion that a lot of people make assumptions on our lives based on their own reality, which could be very different from ours, and I plaid guilty for doing the same at times before quickly making up my mind. We're human after all.
Further I need to take action and show a lot of people that I’ve never done this with money in mind and apparently I now have to prove that I’m not a scammer to a chunk of my followers being misled by haters commenting.
I had a few chats here and there with my future event promoters and have decided that all my gigs already scheduled for 2023 and 2024, and future ones, will be entirely free of charge for promoters, excluding travel and accommodation, until further notice. That’s how much I care about money. ❤
I get paid almost nothing for record sales and streams, and will now be happy giving up on my performance fees so that everyone, supporting or not, can see how much I care about money after all.
Let me continue this post with a few real stories of my past.
In 2004 in Birmingham I peformed a combined Live/DJ set that was paid with a bounced check. Promoter brutally told me I'd have to wait for months without giving me any alternative. I never exposed him because I cared more about the people. And paid everyone I had with me.
In 2016, I was in Mexico with many other colleagues. None of us got paid and the only paid headliner didn’t get on his plane. We played more than we had agreed on to compensate for said headliners absence. I made sure everyone in the audience could spend some time with me. This for zero. Nada. No compensation at all. And we had a great time together with 5000 people. I never complained despite the fact the promises of getting us back there couldn’t be kept. None of us did complain.
The fire&ice remix of taste of summer is played by Antwerp fc’s stadium after each and every goal scored by the leagues champion when playing at home. The original producer got thousands in paid royalties thanks to the fire&ice remix and even got his rights back (!!!), while his original never got played in said stadium. Here we are with our 250€ remix fee Jurgen and I. Did I ever complain about it? No. A deal is a deal indeed. Glad I could transform someone’s life with my craftsmanship. That’s a great feeling.
My Estonian gig of 2007 was a huge flop, with the promoter vanishing without paying us, while leaving festival attendees without a party, cancelled. I was one of those guys who decided to play anyway while not getting paid, at a local venue to make people happy. Top names were there and very mad. I wasn’t. I never complained.
I played live and dj gigs continuously for years sometimes with terrible weather, gear broken, stolen, lost, and at terrible fees most of the time. And I never complained either. Promoters who booked me don’t have much to say about the way I behave, do they? Regardless of the fee, the deal, or whatever it is, I never made any of this with money first in mind.
You see, that’s how much I love what I do. So with or without the insults and bad comments based on assumptions , I just want to keep doing just that, piece by piece, building this catalog of music until my very last breath and I still have a lot in the pipeline. Many built houses, I built this catalog and want some of it back for my children.
I’m not demanding people who don’t know me at all to contribute. All I wanted was to ask help from a fan base for just 12 to 16 weeks tops before moving on and paying them back.
And by the looks of it, fan base there is as we’re slowly approaching a non-negligible % of the final goal. Thanks to all contributing, and I repeat that I’m not touching the money ever.
Wish though, just like everyone else, I could have done it thanks to the interest in my music. And I have so much to offer, now and in the future. Read On!
My new R3tr0nauts ep seems to get a lot of praise for which I’m grateful. It was played on ASOT last week, completely out of the blue, no request from me. After years not being featured at all, I’m very grateful! Gives all those tracks that didn’t do as good lately also some exposure, at least. Have you checked out my progressions releases? Some of them are even available as WAV on my site!
And now we’re ready for a new Cape Town track, 15 years after our Aviateur release. And this one is a smack! Sep 8th friends. Be sure not to miss it!
And there’s a special uptempo Airwave bunch coming up right after that. And I'm working on a killer sequel album that will make many very happy.
Need more evidence?
Meanwhile I’ve finished factory presets for an upcoming synthesizer. My 6th job of that kind, did you go check my patches out on the Wavestate and Modwave synths for example? I wish you could have taken that time. What's coming up is even more impressive, and I'm honoured that I could work on such a powerful synth.
Did you also know I produced 6 soundpacks on Splice? Maybe it's worth checking them out!
Or did you check my own soundpacks, or my upcoming ableton live masterclasses? We have plenty of those available. My upcoming Ableton Live 11 Masterclass is on the 26th with link in bio BTW did you notice that?
I’ll post links in the comments. It would be great if you took the time to go check them out. That's also one great way to support me and my career while you get something in return. And I know that, no matter what, without the support of others, I can't keep going in my creative career. I have a lot to give to those who actually want to hear/see it.
Many thanks for your support and your messages. Keep ‘em coming
Talk soon.
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Longest (classic) Trance playlist on YouTube (5000 tracks released up to and including 1997), click here
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