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man, you go to any club or talk to any label and all they want to know is how many people can you draw. the music comes secondarily to money and it's bullshit. there's so much good music out there and i want to share it with people, but i guess they don't call our scene underground for no reason. i'm just venting, im sorry. it just saddens my soul to know that all most people care about is money, there's so many better things, like dubstep, stupid amounts of bass, and bone crushing rhythms, ya know? anyone on the same page?

mate the whole world revoles around money.

live with it, it isnt going away

dank wrote:man, you go to any club or talk to any label and all they want to know is how many people can you draw. the music comes secondarily to money and it's bullshit. there's so much good music out there and i want to share it with people, but i guess they don't call our scene underground for no reason. i'm just venting, im sorry. it just saddens my soul to know that all most people care about is money, there's so many better things, like dubstep, stupid amounts of bass, and bone crushing rhythms, ya know? anyone on the same page?

Hmm - if you don't care about the money, why are you approaching labels? Release shit yourself - infact, heres a better idea... Give your tunes out for free and say for people to tell you if they want it on wax, get your endless pit of money out and cut whites for everyone who asks, then dig into your endless pit of money again and ship them across the world, first class!....


Sarcasm aside.

As for DJing at clubs - I can't speak for that but I am sure it works the same if you have a name for yourself you'll get bookings in the right club, same as if your tracks are good for a certain label you'll get signed.


chin up, its not that bad.

As one of my favourite ukhiphop tracks goes..

"the music industry isn't easy but we're making it work"

Unless you are a landowner, grow all your own food, have the skills and raw materials to build your own home, and have the medical knowledge to keep yourself healthy, you need money to purchase these things.

Don't hate on the music industry. People are just trying to earn their living in a way that is meaningful to them. At least some of them care enough about good music to put on fat events from time to time, and to slang sick tunes about!

Take Wu Tang Clan for example. They did it for the money, but just happened to produce some ill beats in the process!

If you can make your living through music, do it! Otherwise, do whatever you do to earn your crust, and enjoy music for what it has and always will be, An artform and means for creative expression!

Peace!

wow, i consider myself a pretty cynic and sarcastic person but this puts me to shame, congratulations on a job well done haha, the reason i approach labels is for their ability to connect with a much larger variety of people than i can as an individual, they have promotional powers which i don't...and i guess i just want to share with as many people as i can the energy i feel in my bones because it is such an eye opening and wonderful thing

dank wrote:wow, i consider myself a pretty cynic and sarcastic person but this puts me to shame, congratulations on a job well done

Sorry, kinda needed to be said in that sort of way.

For sure I feel your vision though if you think your music is good enough be VERY picky with what labels you send it to make sure they're perfect for your sort of style, build a relationship with them - even if they don't want to sign you, keep in touch with them, keeping sending them tunes in the end they'll either get sick of you and tell you to fuck off or they'll randomly peep one day and think.. "wow, this guys really came along" and contact you. Its not as easy as just sending shit around most of the time - good luck on your quest though theres only two answers yes or no so ... whats to lose, right? don't just wanna be sign want to be on "x" label - just cause you love what they do and like what they put on and think you'll fit into their style, nothing more insulting owning a label is getting tracks sent to you what're the total opposite what you put and a generic email.. be personal about it.

the promoter asking you how many people you can draw does not make them an asshole it ensures that they aren't gonna lose money on you...

mycota wrote:the promoter asking you how many people you can draw does not make them an asshole it ensures that they aren't gonna lose money on you...

i offered to play for free....and, through experience, i know my music and mixes have gotten people down and dirty at plenty of parties..

I promote a party, in a shit ass town, and I can tell you it is hard to get people out, but people do come out and the word is spreading. You gotta give it your all and don't complain about it, it doesn't help you, it just keeps people away. I know, I was one of those complainers in my early years, but now I figure the only one that is gonna get dubstep in my town is me, and I got with the right people at the right time and now I have a monthly. One of the best rewards about it is seeing people really enjoying themselves, and that is #1 what I want out of it, as a promoter.

But yea, I also can't be losing money every time, cause the money comes out of my pocket, if I don't make enough from the door, I have to pay the rest to the djs. It is better to make a profit obviously, hence the promoter asking you about what kind of crowd you can bring...

Don't know how it is where you live, but I'm sure there is a promoter out there who will let you play for free. Ask for an early set, show them what you can do...and best off....bring everyone you know....that more than anything will get your promoter to bring you back. If you have to, bribe them to come.

Also, if you can help the promoter at all, hand out flyers, spread the word, emails, etc, get on the street team.... I'm sure he would give you a time slot, gotta work for this shit ya kno?

double post

ive felt like this at times. At the end of the day you got to play the game or of music business or you fail. Simple as.

Getting DJ bookings is a mission. Luckily I mix so many different genres and have built up some nice contacts around the world I am luck to get some nice gigs each month.

I would love to be able to make my own tunes and play them in clubs tho.

cheer up you clown.

you're a fool if you think any music scene could survive for free. maybe it could if the world was different, and we still traded rather than puchased, but its not, and everyone has to eat - and making money out of music will ALWAYS be the best job ever.

if n-type won the lottery would he stop cutting dubs? i doubt it. i reckon he would cut a fuck load more dubs!

"i offered to play for free"
haha. sorry but i find this really funny. damn fucking right you should offer to play for free! money shouldn't even be mentioned! every time i get paid for DJing i am so fucking happy because i never expect anything in the first place.
what happened to ''what can i get you to drink? need any help flyering by the way? yeah i do dj actually, i've done a demo mix cd, here you go"

i've never asked to be paid for djing. i'm not saying i'm shit, i'm saying its worth doing it for free if you're at the bottom of the ladder.
if you're really that upset about the music industry, start your own label and night, and be a tnuc to people who ask for gigs if it makes you feel better.

what goes around comes around

Promoters and labels are obviously going to be more receptive to an artist who has already built a fanbase, however small, independently.

TBH it doesn't make sense to try to get a gig when you don't even know if you could draw people, whats the sense of a flyer promoting a name that no one has even heard of?

If your willing to do things for free my advice is to just get in on house parties, really easy way to build a following, and the locals will appreciate you more as someone whose willing to grind on a 'for the people' level, play out enough and enough people see you on a regular basis then you have a little foundation to work with, you can tell those people who already know you and what you do that you have a night in a venue + you've a better chance of getting them to pay that door charge and come and support you.

I get what your saying, but it will never change. People have to eat to survive, musicians included. And even though I don't like most of the popular music that gets played out nonstop on the radio (at least over here in the US), it's obvious someone does because they are still playing it, they are still making money off of it, and people are still listening to it.

when you're starting out and have no gigs, no pull, and no connections, you can do 1 of 2 things:

#1, complain. (this one is a very short solution)

#2, do it yourself. throw a party in a warehouse/loft/apartment. start a digi label. write tunes and get them to folks you think might dig it. start that well-organized, intelligently-written dubstep blog that doesn't exist yet... etc, etc, etc.

As long as yr willing to face a bit of rejection yet still plug away, #2 is a good option .

in a business world, no entity (ie, club/label) is interested in selling something that needs to be sold (ie, a dj w/ no backing yet); meanwhile, any smart business entity wants products that don't need to be sold-- they create excitement, energy, and thus DESIRE all by themselves. do it!

a nice analog to the sitution from a different scene:

http://sivers.org/amber-rubarth

yeh thats a good thing about playing for free. As soon as I started saying to people pay for flights/train tickets and forget about any fee I started getting rebook to the same place a lot more!

Does wonders if you turn down a fee. Once you are getting LOADS of bookings and you dont have enough days to fit them in and ur filling clubs as main act then you can start sending invoices out:p