Recession hitting clubs

[patrick bateman]

But I also see the benefits now: many "sub top dj's" have lowered their fees a lot, and the good thing is that small promotors can afford to ask their musical heros again. It's a blessing in the longer end.

Hmm, but then this whole thing about, that artists shouldn't see their music as a thing to earn money but only as a thing to get bookings, is not really that interesting, if you only get 1-2-300 Euro per gig, and maybe have to play for free half the times?

What do you think YOU deserve more than 300 euros a gig? sh!t... more than 200?

I like you, you are the funniest person on this board.

[livecollective]

But I also see the benefits now: many "sub top dj's" have lowered their fees a lot, and the good thing is that small promotors can afford to ask their musical heros again. It's a blessing in the longer end.

Hmm, but then this whole thing about, that artists shouldn't see their music as a thing to earn money but only as a thing to get bookings, is not really that interesting, if you only get 1-2-300 Euro per gig, and maybe have to play for free half the times?

What do you think YOU deserve more than 300 euros a gig? sh!t... more than 200?

I like you, you are the funniest person on this board.

why thank you, i guess I am funny without even trying to be. I was actually being serious, and i am not trying to be insulting, do you think you deserve 300 euros to play a gig?

You are talking as if that figure is small. I am curious how much you think you deserve to get paid to play?

[camus]

You know what , take the exemple of East Berlin which is a poor place ( well not anymore with all the hype ... ) , yet there is a lot of artistic activity even if it do not generate a lot of money ... detroit too , before this superstar dj bullshit , people use to rave for free , and djs didnt take a dim ...

Well here we are again , the underground is the underground , and of course , now that mainstream promoters have sucked on it , they throw it like garbage ...

So i dont see what is the problem , if you want to be booked , well , go mainstream ...
Otherwise , well , try to play in private parties , or move to europe , in places like Holland or Germany ...

But dont try to be experimental and think people will keep on being open minded ... it was a trend , like anything else , that is why a lot of djs have moved to a more funky mainstream sound to fit new mainstream standards ...

But it has nothing to do with the crisis , even in crisis times , people want to party.

So evolve or stick to what you do , but you cant have it all.

[jaco]

But it has nothing to do with the crisis , even in crisis times , people want to party.

they want to party even more...

[Edward_Molton]

I don't think this recession is a bad thing. Like my labelpartner Psytox already said it will clean the scene. People who were dj'ing for the money will move towards other scenes because they can make more money there.

It's off course a bad thing if you are a sub-top dj and everything you earn is coming from music. But music is just like another business. If you are the manager of a shoe factory and the public is not interested in your shoes then you should evolve. Or stick with your original idea and hope the public will buy your shoes again.

People complain just too much instead of taking any actions. In Belgium a lot of popular belgian artists (the ones in the hit charts) complained because too much alternative bands (like King of Leon) were entering the charts (due to the downloads) and kicked the hoempapa artists out the list. Because a lot of young people buy downloads now in opposite of the limited group of young girls and retired people that bought the maxi-cd's which made that only the Take That's and the hoepapa tracks were in the hit charts.
Instead of complaining they should just make good songs that every one likes or stick to what they are doing and realize that times change.

New times, new opportunities, new businessmodels.

[bshosa]

But I also see the benefits now: many "sub top dj's" have lowered their fees a lot, and the good thing is that small promotors can afford to ask their musical heros again. It's a blessing in the longer end.

Hmm, but then this whole thing about, that artists shouldn't see their music as a thing to earn money but only as a thing to get bookings, is not really that interesting, if you only get 1-2-300 Euro per gig, and maybe have to play for free half the times?

What do you think YOU deserve more than 300 euros a gig? sh!t... more than 200?

I like you, you are the funniest person on this board.

why thank you, i guess I am funny without even trying to be. I was actually being serious, and i am not trying to be insulting, do you think you deserve 300 euros to play a gig?

You are talking as if that figure is small. I am curious how much you think you deserve to get paid to play?

That's a good question in fact .

I'm an experienced promoter brought to my country people like Carl Craig, Joris Voorn, Monolake, Omar S, 2000 and one, Paul Kalkbrenner or the Wighnomy Bros but at the same time - Jackmate, Tobias, Butane, Shackleton, Appleblim, Ion Ludwig, Someone Else, Ray Okpara, Lee Curtiss, Agaric and many "smaller" names.

the fact is - it's pretty easy to get reasonable fees for the big names, as long as you run really special night and it pays off. the 2nd fact is - big names bring quality and professionalism. Always - and that's the fact.
Also the big name guarantee big crowd and media interest, that's so simple.

As somebody mentioned before - fidget bullshit still runs high and those fluo blog kids come to play for 200 eur, so the promoters make parties with 2,50 entrance, which doesn't really leave much space for the techno promoters.

I remember end of the 90's when I was based in Stettin, which is 100 km east from Berlin in Poland, I was helping out some buddies with bringing peeps over, we had Sascha Funke, Kiki, Martini Bros, Phonique, Landsky, Dixon, Sasse and more and the deal was simple 500 DM flat, which is equivalent of 250 eur nowadays. All of them were beginners those days and nobody even tried to discuss about money, more often they resigned on parts of it after checking the drinks bill.

And the electronic techno/house music was THE music back than.

The reality is - if you're not part of the "mainstream underground" movement, like Pheek used to be - 2 years ago and now Nick Curly and friends is, or you're not comitted to a really good agency, you're kind of lost on the market.

So seroiusly Patrik, what are your expectations for a gig ?? 300 eur ?? Makes absolutely no sense to me as a promoter, Id rather invest 300 put some more on top to bring Sienkiewicz, Czubala, CatznDogz or some other big polish name to pack the club full. Sorry man, but that's the fact.

I don't see your releases in charts, I don't see your labels smashing big releases or setting new trends. In a way I don't see any point in promoting night like this. Well I might try to go with - one of his labels uses the logo of Desolat, but don't know if it would score.

PLUS
I also enjoy the "friends-only-during-the-day-parties" most nowadays. Maybe this is the way to enjoy music for us veterans.

[bleepbleep]

Here in Melbourne Australia the club techno scene is booming atm despite the state government declaring "war on alcohol fueled violence" and jacking up the price of liquor licenses for clubs . Theres been alot of big name techno acts coming out over the last few months which its great because it costs alot to fly people from the northern hemisphere down here and theres only a handful of large cities where they can play.

But yeah the recession hasn't hit oz nearly as bad as europe and the US though.

[PsyTox]

unfortunately, Bshosa, you are spot on, totally agree.
I guess in the end it's all about expectations: with our label we don't expect to score hits, we don't expect our parties to be full, we just do what we like with the music and -most important- people we love. And I know a lot of people also think like this noawadays and that is positive imho.

So in a way, we probably have come to a day when underground will be more underground than the past 10 years. That's a good thing imho. Looooooooong before all this money was involved, we had small but great parties and a sense of adventure, and that this music was OURS. Dj's were not on huge stages, didn't get 15000 euro for a gig, didn't have 50 idolising people behind them, there were no VIP areas, everyone was equal and the music united us. That feeling got lost, but now I feel it's really going back to this no-bullshit type of attitude, as the money leaves and the real fans stay or join.