Sup Sydney
Categories: Music
I am writing this, not to be cynical, but to provoke a reaction.
Disclaimer* These points reflect my opinions on a broad range of topics in terms of dance music and clubs and have been compiled from what I have seen happen over the last 3 years. This article can relate to anyone around the world who visits this blog but im sharing my opinions from a view point of living in sydney
Social Media – 5 years ago, you would get an sms from your friend saying ‘come to this club’, essentially making the club night a small network of friends. Everyone would know at least know 2 or 3 people in the club and it would lead to friendships being forged. With the introduction of Facebook, the club experience has become much more stranger laden, mainstream and profit focused. Tip – take a risk and look at promoting your night another way. Ask a promoter pre facebook/myspace how they promoted their nights. It may take 5 mins longer but you will command a lot more respect if you can pull a killer night off without the help of Facebook.
Deadbeats – thanks to Facebook everyone know what the F*&^ is going on. Deadbeats are the guys who make the clubs less friendly. They are there to either pick up a “chick” or kick some guys arse for brushing across their rats tail. Think the general male population needs to focus less on their next lay and actually enjoy the music.
Noob Night Holders – “earn your stripes” before attempting to run a night, rather than go to your mum or dad, get a couple of grand and rape everyone’s facebook with invites.
Globalisation of dance music (dance music saturation) – The lines between genres of dance music are thinning and music is becoming more of a generic formula in terms of creating what would be considered popular. It should be compulsory for every dj to spend a certain amount of hours a week looking more deeply into blogs/beatport.
Local Support act djs – They take less risk in terms of music variety in the fear of having their music rejected by the crowd and not looking cool. So instead of hearing something fresh when you walk into a club, you are more likely to hear a shitty cold play or pon de floor remix and a bunch of 17 year olds dancing. NOTE – selling out does not make you a good dj. If I or any other person who has a half decent taste in dance music wanted to listen to cheese, I would go to my little sisters ipod.
Railroading – practise your mixing till your ears bleed please before you get the pleasure of playing in a club. Respect the crowd by making the beats match and giving us something fresh to listen to.
Flyers – If you are going to theme your party on your flyer, actually go to the effort of buying a few things and theme the club rather than making it the same old bland venue and relying on people to dress up to create the desired atmosphere. Holding a night should not always be about making a profit.
Social media in it’s finest form has proved to be a driving force in venue/artist promotion most particularly after the Facebook profiling came into play. Whilst it’s addictive as a medium, coming from a promoter, there are several aspects of social media that tend to get lost as each year of its use goes past. One must remember that social media was derived from technology attempting to further link the connection between one individual and another individual. Not between one individual company, and an entire targeted audience. Those on the receiving end of social media promotion (commonly Gen Y – known for it’s cynicism towards promo material) see through the majority of the clutter sent through the wires and remain targeting their attention to their social network of friends. When using social media to promote, it’s essential to find an aspect of your product which affects each individual audience member. For this to work most efficiently it’s best to promote yourself as an individual person, on behalf of a company. This way the audience is given the opportunity to relate again to an individual, a friend, with a piece of useful information. Finding something that will seemingly target the individual needs and wants and then presenting to an audience as an individual is much more welcoming than another company logo plastered all over another mainstream event invite.
totally agree. think facebook need to find a less evasive way of allowing people to do this. Multiple to one event is excessive when its on a weekly basis
Well written. Might see your name among the columnists for Dj Magazine next year? ;)
Word to your thoughts on Social Media. I’m a slave to it myself, but having 167 new event invitation on Facebook every week makes you kind of numd and indifferent. That is unfortunate, since lot’s of quality events just drown in the never ending buzz.
Having run parties for 8years+ I realised that social media is kind of a must have. You want to have a facebook group for invitations and photo publishing. But to make an epic night you need something else. This Spring, after getting a personal blessing from Pete Hook of New Order we launched a Hacienda club concept over here in Sweden. The bookings were massive, but what really did the trick were our PR-guys. We found 4 of the friendliest, most life-loving and party wild people I know. They made sure to sell all the tickets hand to hand to just the right crowd. One person at a time.
200 tickets sold like that. 200 more in the line. Full house 30 minutes after opening. No body else gets in. The crowd loves it. The Dj loves it. Sweat is dripping from the ceiling. And suddenly, the superstar DJ continues up to your crib and keeps playing in the kitchen for another 6 hours. The crowd just wants more. Then the sun rises. The you go on for another 2 hours.
Same goes to music. Producing takes time, creativity and effort. Big up to all the nerds spending countless nights in badly litten studios. On the other hand I receive 20 new promo emails a day. Most of music is shit. Even though the people behind it might have tried really hard. Taste in music is subjective. I don’t mind listening through everything. I accept that somebody else going crazy about a tune that I find completely awful. What’s really pisses me off, is standard, badly written emails (Hi Don Diablo) containing crappy zipfiles and ancient sharing services. If you want to reach out, make it easy and hassle-free for me to check your masterpiece.
Finally, everybody needs to feel important, loved and respected. Different people try to achieve this in different ways. Let all the commercial, sell-out djs play their crap. Go somewhere else. Let all the noob promoters keep spamming. There is a Hide button in your Facebook. Live and let die.
Big up for the post.
Hacienda inspirational photos: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=212232540931&v=photos
Peace
Never heard truer words spoken. Very well written. Never been out in Sydney but what you’ve said is unfortunately so relevant to the clubbing scene here in Dublin. I hope oyu don’t mind me quoting this on my blog, giving full credit of course, there are definitely some local promoters here who need to read this and take note.
Props on the post though, keep up the good work.
shane g – yeah feel free to reference. cheers for the props
alex – good insight man and good tips. love your thoughts on producers and their struggle! thats what we are here to help. those nights where sells out, the way u wrote makes me want to party!