It's a weird thing really... (Discussion)

Ahhh the good old days! Over here in NYC I used to spend hours in record shops just listening to sweet vinyl and still I remember having to filter out a lot of crap on so called big labels and I also remember getting all hyped when I would stumble on to some obscure unheard of track on a white label that was awesome.



I guess it also comes down to “to each it’s own”, because one mans crap is another mans gold. As a former billboard reporter you wouldn’t believe the amount of crap I use to get in the mail and asked to chart.



There has always been crap stuff out there but it seems to be much more out there now because having 20 crap tracks on beatport is much less an investment than 20 pieces of crap vinyl in a record shop.



Also I think it is all about the formats consumer base. Record shops were stocking their shelves and building the businesses and products to cater to the pro dj scene because no one else was buying vinyl. So when a record shop had a top sellers list you can pretty much know that those numbers are in most part due to djs.



Now a days on Beatport the consumer base is much larger with everyone and their mother wanting to be a dj and it’s a lot easier to dabble in it now without having to invest in expensive equipment like a set of 1200’s. Even further still beyond the actual working DJs, aspiring DJs, and hobbyist…I know plenty of people who don’t spin at all but buy on beatport to fill up their Ipods simply because they are a fan of house music. The top 10 on Beatport i think is a much wider range and it’s more a reflection on a crowd as oppose to strictly DJ’s. If you ever had a residency or just spun at a club you know how odd the crowds can be…while playing some serious underground choons some random drunk chick will come up to the booth and ask for Castles In The Sky or something.


[quote]Michael Alexander (15/06/2010)[hr]Sorry to butt in, i think this is interesting what you both saying, i have never worked in record shop and cant remember days when they existed like you talking about, but jeesh i didint know you would spend alot of time having to filter out the what sells from wont and about the music still be bad, i would have thought cause it cost more money to make music then that people wouldnt waste money pressing vinyl for something thats crap, well i got a little history lesson here :cool:[/quote]



it did cost more money but when vinyl sales started to drop slightly pressing houses in Europe started giving offers out in hope of pulling back more business and many ended up going bust through labels taking advantage getting records pressed selling the tracks and going bust, re open a week later under a different name and do the same thing again.



we started seeing many labels putting out track with just white sleeves and sticky labels printed on home printers, we even had distribution companies that delivered by hand lol. basically speaking crooks that had robbed both the PressHouse and artists and kept their own costs down to a minimum.



even ticket sales for events were full with crooks, we once had some tickets for events in london and when the tickets didn’t sell the guys from the distribution company kindly took our windows out of the shop and beat my friend (working partner) to a bloody mess.

i think the market and dance music industry is a better place now, there are far less crooks about these day mainly because there is no money to be earned from it

[quote]jon_fisher (15/06/2010)[hr]i think the market and dance music industry is a better place now, there are far less crooks about these day mainly because there is no money to be earned from it[/quote]



No, because the whole world are now the crooks illegally downloading your music!!! :crying: