PA trying to emerge in scene surrounded by DJs

Pettro · Post by **Pettro** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:24 pm

You made what you think are decent tracks.
You know local people who organize good parties and DJs who play along with the "big names"
I give out my tracks to those DJs friends and they say: "Thanks man sounds pretty cool" but
never heard one of my tracks played by anyone
I send my tracks to a lot of labels and netlabels (some of them I have a friendship
others who dont)
the average response is"pretty good but does not suits our label"
I upload on forums (local and here) my live act with different tracks so people
can check exactly what I would play in a club.

There ara no other live acts in the local scene where I live, all DJs,

I would think that people might get interested in what I'm doing live
with controlers, keyboards and all original material and there;s no many people doing it here.

I've barely been to a club to play a couple of times because I asked the opportunity
but always as a DJ.
There's only one time that I've been asked for a demo from a guy who thrugh good parties
and when I tell him it was me playing live with laptop and controllers he answered "cool" but
send me a DJ set if you have one.

What am I missing?

I know my music is not suitable for a club at 3 am on a Saturday but I wouldnt
mind to play my own tracks at 7 pm on a thursday...is just not happening.

I'm starting to think in buying the trendiest charts on beatport and put an hour
collection of minus, herzblut, get physical records and see what response I get.

Could it be my music in not good but and nobody dare to tell me?
Have this happened to you? Anyone of you guys have been struggling in a scene
surrounded by DJs? Any pointers?

victorgonzales · Post by **victorgonzales** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:33 pm

well post a track. Ill tell you my honest opinion. Maybe your just not finding the right people to send songs to or maybe they are just not geed enough yet.

I have sent tracks to numerous labels that didn't like them and then one really good label loves it. Sometimes you just gotta shop it around more.

As for live sets and djing Im not sure about your area but here its more of a whos ass are you kissing scenario to get bookings. I rarelly dj anymore because I dont like playing those games but sometimes you just gotta kiss some ass. Our scene here in Arizona is very political and most of the best djs in the state never get booked because our promoters are cheapskates and would rather have amatuers that play for free and help them flyer and promote rather than pay a small fee for a better dj.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:08 pm

hey pettro man.

sorry you;re having trouble finding open ears in your area. honestly though I think it's a pretty normal situation for musicians who play from the heart and aren't just trying to play whatever style is popular at the time.

I don't have any practical suggestions, but I hope you don't take this situation to heart too much. your music is forward thinking, physical, cerebral and soulful, and there is always an appetite for music like that somewhere, just sometimes it is hard to find.

my advice is to keep working on your sound rather than trying to trying to find ways to sell it to people who will only care if you are a 'big name' or not.

Pettro · Post by **Pettro** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:30 pm

Hi Victor and thanks for replying. Here is a small set that I did trying to caught the escence of my 1 or 2 hour live act in 30 minutes.

http://postbocks.com/audio/download/270 ... hicago.mp3

I wouldnt mind to kiss some ass, as long as it gets me in the spot where I could let my music do the talk and playing for free wouldnt be a problem for me neither.

Oblio, thanks for the kind comments. I dont mean this to you but the thing is that most people have always nice comments for my music while probably they mean something like "your music is ok but you need to improve this and that to make it playable at a club..etc" .

I guess I should not worry too much about this but you all know how monday at work is.

positivefeedback · Post by **positivefeedback** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:22 am

have you thought about starting your own label?

Atheory · Post by **Atheory** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:15 am

hi pettro.

i know that a lot of people prefare to get people to play dj sets cause the quality of music and production would technically be higher than if someone was playing a live set. this of course is not always true, so maybe you gotta look at what type of promoters your targeting.

if you want really honest feedback on your music its actually a hard thing to find. most people don't want to be a jerk about it, which is understandable. had a few mins listen to your tracks and i don't think there is anything wrong with them at all. they have good production and it seems like there is room for everything in them.

if you think its helpful i will give them a really good listen tomorrow and pm you my harshest most honest thoughts tomorrow after work.

clubfoot · Post by **clubfoot** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:38 am

yo Pettro,

the live set you posted here sounds great man. i'm sorry to hear the scene in your area is a bit unadventurous in its bookings. i guess those promoters just don't wanna take a chance on breaking a formula that already works - they too have to please a lot of people.

advice about your set (talking from my experiences): if you wanna play to a peaktime crowd, then you'll need more frequent changes in groove and some bigger basslines i reckon. at the moment it sounds quite afterhours. in reality this isn't really gonna keep a dancefloor moving. remember; the dancefloor attention span is short. it's very easy to spend too long presenting a track to your audience when they probably wanted you to bring the next tune in a while back. also I've found that the more twisted your sounds get, the more excited people get - provided you keep the groove. try and chuck some more DJ tricks in there too perhaps.

I've been quite lucky to get quite a few opportunities to play in the last couple of years. I dunno what the scene is like in Mexico - luckily here in Europe people are quite open-minded and ready for something new. I always find it interesting that some crowds go totally nuts whilst others don't get it and just want the DJ to come back and play some duff duff beatport beatport.

Good luck man!

fcapozzo · Post by **fcapozzo** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:57 am

Pettro lo estoy escuchando, es muy muy bueno. Segui haciendo eso, no importa que te digan hacele esto o lo otro, es tu sonido. A mi por lo menos me gusta mucho, obviamente q no les va a gustar si tanto en tu pais como en el mio siguen escuchando musica retrograda, estan a años de llegar a escuchar algo descente o darse cuenta la importancia y trabajo de un live act. Van al boliche a escuchar algo que los haga saltar sin saber de que se trata, no saben ni lo que esta pasando en la cabina ni les importa. Vos segui asi que dentro d un tiempo vos vas a estar donde debes estar y ellos van a seguir en el mismo lugar sabiendo lo mismo que saben ahora(nada musicalmente). suerte.
Proba con netlabels, todas las q veas en la net. si podes enviame algun track que solo pude escuchar tu live, quisiera ver q tal en la edicion de un track.