Who’s Got Your Ear?

The word “Influencer” is the cool buzz word in marketing. What is an influencer? It usually refers to a celebrity actor, singer, athlete or internet sensation. When it comes to music, it’s whoever has the ear of a lot of people for a lot of time. If you ask the record companies who is the biggest influencer of the general public, they will say radio. But this may not be true anymore. Today, it might just well be the nightclub DJ. 

For decades, record companies relied on radio to expose their music to the world. In the beginning, radio was all about the personalities who presented the music. When radio DJs like Alan Freed began playing Rock ‘n’ Roll, listeners were drawn in immediately. The entertainment factor these personalities brought to the airwaves, coupled with their personal taste in music, made their shows distinct. That was back when AM radio ruled the world. 

The AM signal may not sound the best, but its broadcast range is huge compared to FM, especially after sundown. This counts when you want the greatest exposure possible over the airwaves. Getting a radio DJ to play your record was super important because a DJ in New Orleans could be heard in Florida, and one in Cleveland could be heard in Chicago and a radio signal in Boston could be reach New York. 

The importance of radio play led to payola – paying off DJs to get their priorities played. But for many radio DJs, no amount of money could make them play a record they thought would not appeal to their listeners. They understood that it was the music that kept the people listening. 

With the popularity of FM radio, stations began formatting a specific genre of music to attract a specific listener. The Top40 format became the King of AM but Rock was the domain of FM. With a looser format, the masses started gravitating to FM. It was during this time that a second movement, apart from radio, would ultimately compete for the ears of the public. It was called The Discotheque. 

The DJ at the Discotheque of the late 60s and early 70s was the Program Director of his own captive audience. Echoing FM formatting, the format that DJs looked for was music that would move the crowd on the dance floor. Because blending was important to move from one song to another, longer mixes with intros and outros were gradually developed into the extended mix format we know today. 

With the environment of the club dance floor, DJs expanded their playlist to include music releases that were not receiving airplay. In the 70s, a music revolution was born, and it was called Disco. The DJ had a captive audience in both lifestyle and club culture. 

It is one thing when one DJ at one club plays a single in front of 150 people, but when 20 DJs play the same song, they’re now reaching 3,000 listeners. This formula assumes that each club has 150 patrons, but what if some of those clubs are much bigger? Now you have more listeners. And so, as the popularity of Disco grew and spread around the world, the clubs grew in size as well. Mega clubs like Studio 54 popped up around the USA and around the world. 

Artists such as Barry White, The Salsoul Orchestra, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, Creative Source, Eddie Kendricks, Peter Brown, KC & The Sunshine Band & The Trammps had recordings that became so popular with DJs on dance floors that, in a twist of fate, radio soon had no choice but to follow the lead of the club DJ. Brought together by the same need to pack their floors, DJs went from obscurity to stars who could claim they made “Turn the Beat Around” by Vicki Sue Robinson the pop smash it became on radio.  

The collective power of the DJ took the record labels by surprise, but once the shock and awe calmed down they came knocking directly on booth doors, just like they were doing with radio. The labels started recognizing DJs as tastemakers who had the power to break hits… because they had the ear of the public!

Radio has changed so much over the years. At first, the music selection reflected the personal tastes of the DJs hosting the shows. As Program Directors, they created their audiences. Then entire radio stations began to gather around the formats they created. Eventually it was called ‘formatting’ and splintered into the formats we know today: Pop, R&B, Rock, Adult Contemporary, Hip Hop, Oldies, Classic Rock, Country, etc. 

When Music Directors were added to the mix, it was their job to decide what got played and how often. They had their fingers on the pulse of what their listeners wanted because they lived within the broadcast range of the stations they worked for and lived and breathed the communities they represented. 

As these stations grew, some became behemoths and gobbled up other radio stations around them, unifying them all under one banner. Eventually, they went national, spreading to other cities, taking the programming power away from the individual Music Directors and instead, hiring consultants, often in cities hundreds or thousands of miles away from the stations they were programming. Listeners in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Dallas might be horrified to find that the person deciding what they were to listen to was in an office in Cincinnati! The home-grown power of local programming was lost forever. 

The eventual result of national unification was that radio stations were all playing the same songs. Radio became this thing in the car no one cared about anymore. You turn it on, listen for a couple of songs and change the station for something different. 

This boring, repetitive programming of Top40 radio resulted in a massive exodus to Internet radio. Meanwhile, the record companies were still spending millions of dollars in marketing and promotion to these terrestrial radio stations that no one was listening to anymore. The labels do this because they still believe that radio has the ears of the public. In reality, it doesn’t. Not anymore.

When a person goes out to a club, they usually stay. They pay to park their car. They pay to walk through the door. They pay for their first of many drinks. The average stay is between 3 and 5 hours. Not all the music may be to their liking during this time, but they can’t push a button and switch to another music program. For the duration of their stay, whatever the DJ plays, they will hear. Radio calls this Time Spent Listening, or TSL. The TSL for the biggest most listened to radio stations in the USA tend to be measured in minutes! Radio stations would murder for a TSL rating of 3 hours. That is, quite frankly, unheard of. 

Presently, record labels are still spending millions of dollars on terrestrial radio to get their music play-listed. They don’t spend it on nightclubs and DJs, even though every weekend, millions and millions of people around the world go to their favourite club to dance, socialize and listen to music presented by their favorite Music Director – the DJ of their favorite nightspot. 

Even though clubs all over the world have a captive audience for an average TSL of 3 to 5 hours, there is a growing misconception by the record labels that the era of the importance of the nightclub DJ is over! Nothing could be further from the truth!

The irony is that, for the most part, terrestrial radio is over. Not the DJ. Not the nightclub. Not the introduction of new music to a captive audience on dance floors all over the world. As a collective group, nightclub DJs play to millions of people listening to what the DJ chooses to give them. Contrary to the current national radio station business, club DJs are still their own Music and Program Directors, playing the music today that everyone will be streaming tomorrow. 

But it seems that the record labels have forgotten the tremendous influence of the club DJ. Unlike the single national voice of radio, DJs are not represented by a single group that can report the trends. DJs are not organized like unions. And so, with diminished staff, there is no one at record labels to connect the dots and recognize the trends breaking out of the clubs.

But there is a music service that is getting organized. They offer their label partners the service of connecting the dots by pointing out the trends their trendsetting DJs are creating on their dance floors. At zipDJ, these DJs are laying down the groundwork record labels can take to make the case for new music in their endless marketing meetings. 

By taking on the missing link between the DJ and the record labels, zipDJ works hand in hand with its member DJs and its label partners to send information from dance floors directly to the labels through its weekly compiled charts. By working with Hot Mixers, zipDJ helps to propel the music the public wants to hear from dance floors to terrestrial radio. zipDJ introduces to the labels hot new remixers and the great tracks and artists they should be looking into. And advertisers looking for energetic, cool music to match with images of their commercials will find it on the zipDJ charts. 

zipDJ works hard to remind the record labels that DJs have the ears of this generation. The zipDJ organization is here to help labels and radio get the message that DJs and club dance floors are sending out. 

DJs have the ear of the public. Record labels and radio stations now need to lend their ear to the DJs.

Dear ALL zipDJ Members 

“GIVE THE DJ A BREAK!”

“Give The DJ A Break!” are made up of 3-song sets that you can drop into your mix if you need to run to the bathroom, get a drink or have a moment with your honey in the booth!

The people beind the KADO app (like Shazam for DJs and clubbers) have analysed over 200,000 DJ sets from their users and set lists and compiled a list of the music popular music genres for 2016.
The top 10 results were as follows:

1. House
2. Trance
3. Electro House
4. Tech House
5. Techno
6. Progressive House
7. Deep House
8. Drum & Bass
9. Hip Hop/Trap
10. Dance

Source: KADO

Eric Wahlforss, the founder of the streaming service, recently spoke to Groove and revealed the company had reached an agreement with GEMA, the society for collective rights in Germany, when discussing terms for the subscription service SoundCloud Go.

“These problems with the introduction of SoundCloud Go are a thing of the past, and also for users who do not subscribe. During the negotiations for our subscription service as well as an agreement was with collecting societies like GEMA achieved in Germany.

“This means that DJ mixes can now be legally and problem-free on SoundCloud. So this is a very positive news for DJs.”

Read the interview in full here.

Source: Mixmag

“How can I develop my DJ career while maintaining a demanding day job?” This is a familiar scenario to most people who work in music, or other creative endeavours. You have to pay your bills, but you want to express yourself creatively. But you can’t develop yourself as an artist (and turn it into a lucrative pursuit) without investing the time, and working on your craft.

Here’s some advice for the majority of DJs: those who spend their mornings and afternoons doing something else.

Block Out Your Time (And Stick To It)

It’s an unfortunate truth that creative pursuits, like music-related hobbies or potential careers, are the first things to be put by the wayside when you don’t feel like there is enough time in the day.

Not only do many DJs have day jobs, but they also have spouses/significant others, children, schooling, pets, other hobbies, chores, gym memberships… the list goes on.  Ever have that feeling that there isn’t enough time in the day?

Of course you have.

The best way to handle this problem is to create a fairly rigid schedule. This is the single most helpful thing I’ve done to increase my own productivity, in all my pursuits.

You don’t necessarily have to get super specific, down to 15-minute increments. Get as specific as you need to in order to get things done.  Start vague (i.e. – “Sunday afternoons: music discovery and track prep. Sunday evenings: date night”). If that isn’t quite getting the day job, break it down a step until it starts working for you. Maybe your real answer is something like “Sunday evenings after 5PM: date night.”

Don’t only schedule your DJ-related activities. This isn’t just to prevent forgetting things, like a to-do list… this is a lifestyle change.

Create a weekly calendar. Block out your absolute must-do, no-choice items first (like your day job). Then, see when your available “slots” are. Then, schedule time for your creative pursuits… and force yourself to stick to it. Try it for a week or two, then see what needs adjusting and pivot accordingly.

You may find that you “only” have two hours a week to work on music production. But here’s the kicker… that’s two more hours than the zero you’re finding time for now. It’s more time than you think.

When You’re At Work… Work.

The hustle has to be put on “pause” when someone else is paying you for your time.

This is not just an ethical concern, but a productivity concern as well. If you can’t shut off your crate-digging, self-promoting, gig-planning Super DJ persona, it becomes really difficult to get things done at work.

It’s really easy to go from unproductive to unemployed. And, if you were ready to get out of that job, you wouldn’t be reading this article!

Keep on delivering results if you want to get paid. That goes for DJing, too.

Cross The Streams

One appealing option for many people in this situation is to actually get a job in a related field.

This serves two purposes. Firstly, it can open two-way doors. For example, working as a stage hand or sound engineer for large-scale events gains you technical knowledge, and access to a whole new network of music industry people. That can’t ever be a bad thing for a DJ.

Second, it also serves to keep your head in the right place. It’s easier to get excited about your job when it’s in a field related to what you like doing anyway.

Finding a career path that is helpful to your musical career is pretty much a win-win situation.

A lead guitarist can give guitar lessons. A music producer can offer mastering services.  A vocalist can direct a church choir. What can you do, armed with your knowledge as a DJ?

Prioritise Time Flexibility

It may be helpful to aim for a job which allows you to have a more elastic schedule, over one that pays a little bit better, if you have the luxury of doing so.

Realising that the job market is not always exactly stellar, many people have to fit their lifestyle around whatever job they are able to get. This is the unfortunate reality of having responsibilities.

However, one thing most people also do is to stop looking for jobs once they have one. I know… I had the same job for 13 years.

Luckily, mine was fairly time-flexible… though it also required me to be somewhat “on call”. I was a systems administrator, and if a network switch went down, the power went out, or some other disaster struck…. well, let’s just say that I spent more than one 3am session in the server room.

I would never tell you to find another job if you’re completely happy where you’re at, and you are on a successful career path. That being said, you never know what’s out there if you never look.

Finding a job where you’re allowed some leeway in your schedule does wonders for people who moonlight as DJs or musicians. A reasonable vacation schedule, for example, is very helpful if you’re at the point where you can tour or play the occasional out-of-town gig.

Sometimes, it isn’t even a question of flexibility so much as it is just a schedule that better fits your lifestyle.  If you have a DJ residency that goes until 3 AM, and you have to be at work at 6 AM, something’s gotta give.  It’s going to be up to you to choose which.

Start Your Own Business (or Freelance)

Maybe you’ve decided that the day job just isn’t for you, but you aren’t able to support yourself financially on your DJ gigs alone.

Going into business for yourself can be the most effective way to gain the time flexibility you desire.

Re-read that carefully: Going into business for yourself can be the most effective way to gain the time flexibility you desire.

Why do I point out those two words? Well, I highlight “can” because nothing is guaranteed. Not every business, freelance, or contracting arrangement is created equal.

“Flexibility” I highlight to make sure you don’t get the wrong idea. Gaining flexibility of time is not the same thing as gaining time!

This is often a high-risk, high reward kind of choice. This option is not for everyone.

If your sole purpose for starting a business is, “I want to DJ more”, you should probably throw away the idea right now. Starting a business isn’t too tough, but starting one that can consistently pay the bills is a journey all on its own.

You have to be prepared for a whole new lifestyle. And DJing will probably have to take a back seat for an undetermined amount of time.

All those disclaimers aside, I still feel it’s worth mentioning. In fact, this is the route that I’ve chosen, and what is working for me at the moment.

My wife and I have started a mildly successful online retail business, which serves to pay the bills and allow me to work when it fits in my schedule. This has given me the ability to have better say over what gigs I take, how well I promote myself, and to work on building up this website.

However, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial drive, and I was at a good place in my life to give it a try. This is something I would have done anyway. DJing is a good secondary or tertiary reason to start a business, but probably not a good only-reason.

That is, of course, unless you want to start an actual DJ business!

If you can scrape together the capital for a decent sound rig, have an excellent sense of professionalism, and think you have the business chops… putting together a mobile DJ business (for weddings, corporate events, etc.) can be a pretty lucrative option. It can also help you make steady money faster than you would building your career in the club/performance circuit.

Reduce Instead of Quitting

This is something else that Trip and I address in the episode. There is a bit of middle-ground between staying in a demanding time-vampire of a job, and jumping head-first into business ownership.

Perhaps taking a reduction in hours (i.e. – switching to part time from full time) is the option for you. Going from 40-50 hours in a work week to 20-30 is pretty significant.

It’s also a pretty significant reduction in pay… especially when you consider the fact that you will often lose other benefits by doing this (such as health insurance).

Still, it’s an option that exists for some people and is worth mentioning. This is a great choice for those DJs who are already making some amount of consistent money by DJing, more than the hobbyist.

Be Realistic

The unfortunate reality is that most people don’t ever end up dedicating as much of their time and energy to their passions as they wish they could, due to various circumstances and responsibilities.

If you shoot straight for the stars, and you’re not in a realistic place to do that yet, you will simply be overwhelmed and disappointed when you aren’t a superstar one year from now.

Baby steps – that’s the key.  It may not be realistic for you to quit your job and start touring 3 months from now, but it’s a little more within reach to try to score a local residency or to find that extra 2 hours in the week to produce singles.

And please believe me when I say that baby steps add up!

Being realistic doesn’t mean disregarding your passion. If you’re like me, you’ve got something musical inside of you that needs to get out in order to maintain your sanity.

Take a proactive approach, and making small adjustments here and there, is a very productive method for getting more serious about your craft.

Source: Passionate DJ

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that the city won’t rush to change the club, once a mainstay in the gay community that has become a gathering place for visiting and local mourners alike.

“There are lots of people that are making a visit to the site part of their trip, part of their experience of Orlando, so I think 12 to 18 months of leaving it as-is would be appropriate,” Dyer said.

In the meantime, the city plans to solicit ideas from the community for what form the lasting memorial should take. Dyer said the city hasn’t ruled out leaving part of the club intact permanently, such as the roadside sign featuring its now-iconic logo.

The city’s ultimate goal, he said, will be to “create something to honor the memory of the victims that are deceased [and] those that were injured, and a testament to the resilience of our community.”

The price negotiated by city staff is more than the $1.65 million appraised value of the nightclub, a 4,500-square-foot building occupying a third of an acre at South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street.

Dyer said the sale price was a compromise reached during negotiations with the club’s owners, whose attorney did not return a call seeking comment Monday.

The sales contract with the city was signed Friday by Rosario Poma, who owns the club with his wife, Barbara. Orlando’s City Council, which has the final say on the deal, will weigh in on it next week.

The nightclub has been empty since June 12, when a gunman opened fire during a Latin-themed dance party, killing 49 people and wounding dozens more.

Since the massacre, mourners have flowed steadily to the site to pay their respects, leaving behind photos, notes, stuffed animals and other remembrances. Many of the items have since been collected for preservation by the Orange County Regional History Center.

The visitors have at times been disruptive to nearby businesses and residents, creating parking troubles, crowding sidewalks and prompting safety concerns. The club was also the victim of at least one break-in about a month after the tragedy.

Dyer said purchasing the property will help with security and safety issues, as the city will no longer need to coordinate with a private owner to enter or change the property.

“Now, we can actually secure it like we would any other piece of city property,” he said.

In September, the city removed the black chain-link fence that had surrounded the club since soon after the shooting, replacing it with a new barrier farther back from the road, wrapped in a screen which features images created by local artists.

Those killed in the Pulse massacre have been commemorated in many ways, but the city has kept mum on the specifics of its plans for a permanent memorial. Dyer first floated the idea of buying the nightclub in a radio interview in August.

The club has already drawn onlookers from across the globe, as far flung as the prime minister of Luxembourg. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton laid flowers outside the club during a visit to Orlando in July.

Dyer said the city will seek memorial ideas from other communities, not unlike how local officials brought in Kenneth Feinberg, a national authority on victim compensation in mass tragedies, to administer the $29.5 million OneOrlando Fund for Pulse shooting victims.

“We’re still gathering information,” Dyer said. “We’re looking around the country for some people that have done something like this before. There are some folks with expertise related to this.”

Barbara Poma opened the bar in 2004, naming it Pulse in honor of her brother John, who died of AIDS in 1991. It was a local landmark in the gay community, often the first bar a gay or lesbian young person would visit in Orlando.

Poma was the first to pledge the Pulse site would become a memorial to those lost, in a statement issued through a spokeswoman days after the killings.

jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171

Source: Orlando Sentinel 

In a new video, a UK native can be seen using the tough fiver like a turntable needle to play a 7-inch single of ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money” (a very apt choice of tune). The resulting sound isn’t exactly flawless, but the note does its intended job nonetheless, seemingly making it worth far more than just five pounds.

The person behind the video described his little experiment thusly:

“The new polymer five pound notes have a rather curious ability of being just about able to play vinyl records (with the aid of a contact microphone and small amplifier not shown on screen). As the corners on these new banknotes are more durable and sharper than its paper counterpart it acts like a very crude record needle.”

Check out the video up below:

Source: Consequence of Sound

The German court has ruled that the hedonistic weekend-long techno parties at Berlin’s famous Berghain club should be classed as culture rather than entertainment.

As Der Spiegel reports, the club has won a landmark case after being threatened with having to pay a 19% entertainment tax over the 7% culture tax paid by classical music venues.

Tax officials had claimed that Berghain’s culture of dancing and having fun was “ruled by entertainment, not by culture,” but the club’s owners argued that this could also apply to classical music.

The Berlin-Brandenburg fiscal court in Cottbus ruled in favour of Berghain, which is now subject to the same 7% culture tax as classical venues.

The ruling is in stark contrast to that of the UK, where clubs are increasingly under threat from property developers and local authorities. Last week, London’s Fabric had its license revoked after the suspected drug-related deaths of two men at the venue.

DJs and producers alike have been angered by Islington Council’s decision to close the London venue, with Goldie threatening to melt down his MBE in protest. [via Electronic Beats]

Source: FACTMAG

As a result, Sony Music UK has acquired the label outright, including its artists, back catalogue and compilations business. The new relationship brings together one of the most successful UK independent labels with Sony Music, which has successfully introduced domestic acts including Mark Ronson, Paloma Faith, George Ezra and Calvin Harris across the world.

Ministry of Sound Recordings was launched in 1993 as an extension of the pioneering South London nightclub founded by James Palumbo, now Lord Palumbo of Southwark. It is among the world’s largest dance music recording businesses, with cumulative album sales in excess of 70 million, including 40 UK No. 1 albums and 21 UK No. 1 singles.

Ministry of Sound Recordings’ label arm, led by David Dollimore, houses some of the industry’s most renowned executives, including highly respected A&R Director Dipesh Parmar and award-winning marketeer Nicola Spokes. Over the last ten years, the label has established an exciting roster of contemporary talent, successfully launching the careers of acts including Eric Prydz, Example and Wretch 32, as well as developing exciting new artists such as Jodie Abacus, Louis Berry, MIAMIGO and Moss Kena.

Sony Music and Ministry of Sound Recordings have enjoyed a burgeoning relationship in recent years. The label’s current roster of artists includes BRIT-nominated group London Grammar, whose debut album, If You Wait, sold more than 1.5 million copies globally, as well as DJ Fresh and Sigala. Sigala is licensed to Sony Music internationally and London Grammar is signed in North America through Columbia US.

The new partnership will allow Ministry of Sound Recordings to grow its recorded music offering on a truly global scale. The entire roster will now sit alongside many of the world’s most successful modern day artists including Robbie Williams, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Meghan Trainor, Olly Murs, Miley Cyrus and Pharrell Williams.

Ministry of Sound Recordings curation team, led by Naz Idelji, is responsible for approximately one in every six compilation albums sold in the UK, having developed numerous brands including The Annual, Dance Nation, Trance Nation and Clubbers’ Guide.

Doug Morris, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Entertainment, stated: “This agreement underscores our ongoing commitment to investing in great artistry and hit music. On behalf of the entire Sony Music family, I’m excited to welcome the wonderful artists and talented team at Ministry of Sound Recordings to our line-up of world-class creative centers. I would like to send my congratulations to both Edgar and Jason.”

Lohan Presencer, Ministry of Sound group chief executive, said: “I’m delighted we have found the right home to grow Ministry of Sound Recordings at a global level while keeping its unique identity. Sony Music is a world-class company that understands our ethos of exceptional curation and developing young talent. Ministry of Sound Recordings had its most successful year to date in 2015. Sony has the scale and strength within the industry to project our artists and music onto an even bigger platform.”

Edgar Berger, chairman and CEO, international, Sony Music Entertainment, said: “Ministry’s success story is exceptional and the acquisition is an important milestone in our growth strategy. We welcome the opportunity to further internationalise the footprint of this legendary British independent record label.”

Jason Iley, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music UK, said: “Ministry of Sound is one of the greatest brands in music. I’m delighted to welcome one of the most innovative, smart and pioneering labels to the Sony Music family. David and Dipesh’s track record, alongside one of the best curation teams in the business, speaks for itself and the label will be another hugely exciting addition to Sony Music UK’s vision for the future.”

Source: Music Week

SoundCloud’s founders and investors, including investment firm Doughty Hanson & Co., are exploring strategic options for the company that could lead to a sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. While the owners have been thinking about a potential sale for some time, the deliberations are at an early stage and the company may decide against pursuing a deal, the people said.

The owners have had trouble finding a buyer willing to value the company at $1 billion so far, two of the people said. SoundCloud raised $70 million from Twitter Inc. in June, part of a $100 million funding round that priced the company at $700 million, a person familiar with the matter said at the time. SoundCloud is working to generate reliable revenue from its approximately 175 million users, who spend time on the site to record, listen to and share songs. SoundCloud introduced a premium service in March, allowing customers to pay $10 a month for ad-free streaming and increased access to songs. It was a dramatic change to a more mainstream model, favored by larger players such as Apple Inc., and Spotify Ltd., for a company that had found its niche hosting music uploaded by DJs and musicians.

A representative for SoundCloud and a spokesman for Doughty Hanson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2014, the last year that SoundCloud publicly reported its accounts, sales rose 54 percent to 17.3 million euros ($19 million) from a year earlier. The operating loss at the time was 39 million euros, widening from 21.3 million euros in 2013.

Source: Bloomberg