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Is the "promoter dj" killing the club scene?
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| kotsy |
| quote: | Originally posted @ http://www.inthemix.com.au/features...our_club_scene#
Is the "promoter dj" killing the club scene?
Back in May, inthemix asked the question, ‘What’s gone wrong with our clubs?’ The response to the five-part feature series provided plenty of food for thought, with ITMers debating the effect of festivals and the decline of weekly clubbing. However, the topic that generated the most passionate responses was the advent of a ‘pay for play’ culture in club-land, with DJs booked not for their abilities but for the length of their guest-list.
The prevailing sentiment in the feedback to our features suggested this trend was breeding good salespeople, not good DJs – which in turn makes our dancefloors less exciting places to be. Is this an indication of a decline in our club culture, or just an unavoidable reaction to these uncertain times?
These questions were again brought to the fore with an inthemix forum thread detailing an email from long-running Sydney trance flagship Sublime to prospective DJs. The email stipulated that each DJ must bring a certain number of paying friends to the club in order to ensure a set.
However, speaking to inthemix for this feature, Home The Venue’s Sophie Page argues that the reaction was disproportionate. “Sublime was hammered on ITM for having quotas, but it was taken somewhat out of context,” she says. “We are all about our DJs promoting the brand, as well as themselves, so we can build something bigger than a local dancefloor. What we did put in place was a bonus pay scheme so we could get some more dollars into their pockets and motivate them to really push themselves further than through a new event on Facebook.”
So, why did these types of schemes become a necessary measure for some clubs? In the opinion of Page (and several other promoters and venue owners we spoke to), there’s just not the same surety of getting loyal heads through the door as there once was. “From our perspective Sublime was a cult; people went there week after week after week becoming part of the furniture,” she asserts of the earlier days. “There are numerous quotes about Sublime being ‘a way of life’. Maybe the drugs were just better then, but there were some patrons who were beyond loyal.”
A by-product of this new climate has been the ‘promoter DJ’; more committed to sending Facebook invites than building a compelling set. Melbourne’s Tyson O’ Brien – who DJs as Generik and runs new weekly night Super Disco – sums up the sentiment of many in the scene. “These kids have never researched labels, tracks, artists,” he tells inthemix. “They simply go to Beatport, download top 10, burn CD, rock out for fame and fortune. It’s all about who has the most Facebook friends and can reach the most potential punters.” When we took the issue to the DJ Booth forum on inthemix, the response was much the same: pulling a crowd has become more important than distinguishing yourself as a selector.
Of course, this chorus of grumbling runs the risk of sounding like a bunch of jaded types refusing to move with the times. However, the long-standing promoters inthemix spoke to believe it’s a genuinely worrying shift for the scene. As Brand Manager for Onelove, John Curtin has seen it first-hand. “Your average 18-year-old wants to play at key Melbourne venues now such as Seven, QBar and Prince,” he says. “Back 10 years ago, these venues had older DJs playing based on their skills. Without saying ‘back in my day’, it used to be a lot more about quality DJs taking patrons on a journey.”
For most DJs doing the rounds of our clubs, it’s often not enough to simply provide your services on the night. A common alternative to the guest-list quota is the ticket allocation. Instead of being paid a fee, DJs are given a bundle of discounted tickets to sell, with the promise they can keep the profits. This then leads to the deluge of Facebook invite-spam that many ITMers attest is the death knell of the local club scene. Is it that unreasonable, though, to expect to DJs to go the extra distance?
“Good DJs are good DJs,” says Darius Bassiray, one half of Rollin Connection, the duo behind respected Melbourne club night Darkbeat. “If they have some promotional ability, then that is an added component to being recognised. We never demand any DJ bring a certain quota to our events – we can’t speak for other promoters, however. Some of the younger kids are more internet savvy, and separate themselves from the rest by their promo appeal – this is great, but if they cannot DJ well, then we do not book them to play for us.”
Chad Gillard of Sydney tastemakers Future Classic has a similar view. “Every promoter hopes that the acts they’re booking will bring in a crowd in support,” he reasons. “It’s a little rough on the DJs, though, to slap them with a required quota. In that type of situation I guess you’d end up with really good salesmen getting to play out the most and the best DJs falling by the wayside.”
So, what has contributed to this new state of affairs in our clubs? Andy Scally, whose Limelite night has been a stalwart of the Perth scene, presents an interesting take on it all. “In the last 12 to 18 months, club-land has suffered from two things: event marketing and the cult of celebrity,” he muses. “It seems sometimes the motivating factor for kids to hit clubs is just to be in the same room as a superstar or because the show has been marketed as a major event. A great example of this is when I hosted will.i.am in October last year – over 1,800 scrambled for tickets to see an artist not known for his DJing at all. Whereas two weeks later, I hosted DJ Hell and was in a world of financial pain with just over 200 payers.”
Sophie Page identifies a similar shift in Sydney: it’s either big internationals or supporting your mates. “These days, perhaps everyone wants to be a groupie, because people are going out to see their friends play rather than seeing – or idolising – a decent local act,” she says. “I’ve heard of some clubs actually kicking people off mid-set because they can’t really DJ, but happily accepting the 40 to 50 people they brought with them. I don’t know why any venue would put someone behind the decks without accepting a demo – it’s mental.”
Of all the identities inthemix interviewed, the general consensus for the future of the club scene was: ‘back to basics’. As Andy Scally puts it: “The up-and-comer must be super keen, but also have the base set of skills needed. They need to listen to the experienced guys and hopefully pick up a couple of tips.” The question remains though: have we gone too far the other way? |
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| infinity HiGH |
| Haven't read the article yet but to an extent yes, they are. |
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| CODE |
I think we need more promoter/whores
there is not enough whoring going on these days.......
let the dj's dj. Let the promoters whore it up.
its that simple |
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| kotsy |
| quote: | Originally posted by CODE
let the dj's dj. Let the promoters whore it up. |
yes, please! :) |
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| chinamon |
| quote: | Originally posted by CODE
I think we need more promoter/whores
there is not enough whoring going on these days.......
let the dj's dj. Let the promoters whore it up.
its that simple |
broooooo
you're such a whore |
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| Silky Johnson |
| I've always found most promoter DJs sort of pathetic in a way. It's almost tacky. I mean, how I am supposed to respect you if you're always in my face like MAAAANNN YOU GONNA COME TO MY GIGGG?? I'LL HOOK YOU UP WITH LIST MAAANNN. Hahah, off. |
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| GGM |
A club that operates heavily on that notion (book the biggest GL DJs) is probably to begin with so I don't imagine it affecting things that much overall. Maybe they're referring to specific other cities though.
If you really want to know what's killing the club scene, it's those damn photographer promoters... |
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| spiderpig |
| The club scene is killing the club scene. |
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| chinamon |
| quote: | Originally posted by GGM
If you really want to know what's killing the club scene, it's those damn photographer promoters... |
:haha:
<3 |
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| cammaxwell |
I don't think there is anything wrong with a DJ promoting themselves and generating a healthy GL, as long as it's not to aggressive and in your face. I also don't think any DJ who is crap would be able to get a huge list, at least not consistently.
I agree that a DJ should be booked on his ability and not the size of his list, but I also understand club owners/promoters judging his list as a measure of how well people in the scene like his music. In our scene, if you're not any good you just won't be able to pull a big list.
A top 40 club would be different sure, where people are just going to drink. But our scene people come for the DJ/music and aren't going to support someone if they don't provide that.
A large list shouldn't be demanded or expected by the DJ, but a healthy list through a little promotion is fine I think. |
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| LightsOut |
I really don't see why a DJ has to do any promotion.
A club should hire a DJ based on their musical ability and if it fits in with their program.
It's the clubs and promoters job to spread the word to bring in the people and make a guestlist.
Sure, obviously the DJ will post his gigs up somewhere & I'm sure he'll be contacted by a few people for list, in which he's gotta do up a list of course. But his main focus should be on programming his set and searching out music, not bombarding people with facebook invites, just so he can get to a respectable list number and get booked by a venue again.
I really think a lot of djs in our local scene get booked based on their guestlist pull and not technical ability... |
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| PivotTechno |
| quote: | Originally posted by cammaxwell
In our scene, if you're not any good you just won't be able to pull a big list
But our scene people come for the DJ/music and aren't going to support someone if they don't provide that. |
I disagree. While there are a lot of quality DJs playing out in the city these days, much of clubland is filled with middling hacks boasting 5,000 "friends" who'll show simply because that's where everyone else is going. Use the 5% rule (percentage of your invites you expect to attend), and anyone will a laptop, Traktor and an extensive online network (whether earned or not) can fill pretty much any small downtown club/lounge in this city.
That's what venue owners want - most club owners don't give a about music. Yes, clubs need to be profit oriented, but when that's the sole motivation for opening a venue, you end up attracting fickle crowds who are there primarily to be with their friends and party, and who'll jump ship as soon as the 'cool' factor has waned.
The small handfuls of venues in this city owned by those who actually understand and appreciate the music and its fans will always have a certain longevity. But invariably, with so much cookie-cutter competition out there, even these venues end up having to fill the dancefloor with clueless people (having never heard what a truly talented DJ sounds like) halfheartledly shuffling around to Beatport top ten jukeboxes who are booked more on hype than any discernible talent.
We can *always* use more quality venues, owned and operated by business people who are actual electronic music fans. Bonus for bringing back oldschool door policies, where the door staff let people in based on something a bit more substantial than how ballin' they look. :) |
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