For All To See

[The Overfiend]

Hmmmm
I think the whole point I was making was instead of griping about anything wrong in the scene, do something to add to it.

[killarava2day]

I don't produce.

I have a time consuming job and thankfully earn a good quid. In turn I buy prob 40 to 50 records a month...supporting all yews from this board here etc. That's my role in this big cog of techno.

HEY SLAVE STUDIOS

I see you mentioned Northern Ireland...my Fathers side is from Bangor. Nice place? Crazy friggin Irish

[The Overfiend]

40 to 50 records, thats what im talkin about.

[audioinjection]

good read tony, well said

shit, im buying $300 worth of records and i bearly have any dj gigs to play them out haha....

[DJAmok]

in my country u have to book guys like Hawtin, Clarke, Vath, and similar if u want to be succsefull and to go over 0. Isnt it unhealthy and very selfdestroying, when these guys want 10thous. Euros for a play?...

From what I heard Wittekind filled a place in CZ rather nicely at about 10% of that price....





@ Topic: Good statement Tony. I wish I knew a solution to the dilemma, or even the answer to the question why everything is so ****ed up. Maybe it's just the general economic situation. Everyone fighting for themselves. Techno is no 'movement' anymore

[gunjack]

ummmm maybe try looking at electronic music as a market, instead of techno as a scene.

[tocsin]

[quote="Sam"] At one point I had to sell my decks to survive, and I still remember going to
Cafe Sounds in Montclair New Jersey, Sonic Groove, Satellite in New York, NO DECKS. For the love of the genre.
Somewhere that love has disappeared.

Since I missed this the first time around, I'll comment now. I too used to hit up those stores. I stopped going to those stores long before I ever picked up a copy of Napster and, later, Kazaa. The main reason was because, rather than having a diverse range of music, they attempted to fit in to what they thought was a market. After all, they're record shops. And, in every case, the choices of people running the shops resulted in poor merchandise. It was around this time that I began having to listen to people bitch about how there was just too much shit music coming out and that is why the stores stocked so much shit. But, this was also a bogus claim. Since a friend worked at one of the larger vinyl distro houses in NYC, I'd get to go over there and score new music that was still quite good which, for some strange reason, wasn't being stocked by the best known stores for techno. So, did the music truly start to suck while everyone began downloading instead of purchasing? Or did the stores begin to
suck because the people running them got tunnel vision? The only thing that ever led me to go the MP3 route was because it allowed me to find whatever I want. The price was inconsequential since, before I was hitting the distro house, records would cost me anywhere from $8-$15 a piece. I could afford to buy the music as could any other DJ. The problem isn't downloading. The problem is that the dominant forces in the market got boring.

Maybe it's just the general economic situation. Everyone fighting for themselves. dunno
Techno is no 'movement' anymore

I've never known it to be a true movement where it wasn't everyone fighting for themselves. It's partially why I don't fight within it anymore. I got tired of it. Even at free parties, you get people stabbing each other in the backs if they think it will get them a booking or time slot they prefer. Crews themselves are very catty and cliquey. The pseudo-movement behind it (at least where I am) doesn't strike me as being any different than what goes down in any other for-profit music scene. In a way, it's almost kinda worse. I expected to get ****ed when playing in bands for money. Never expected it in a scene where the money adds up to much more than a case of beer and some food. I guess that's why I've always stayed nomadic. While it would be great to meet up with some people on the same path, they seem to be scattered globally rather than centralized locally. Techno is a "movement" where I am if you consider the desire to hold on to the limelight for as long as you possibly can, and do whatever
it takes to achieve that, a movement. And despite how people look back with nostalgia to it being different, I never personally witnessed that in a decade.

[BloodStar]

in my country u have to book guys like Hawtin, Clarke, Vath, and similar if u want to be succsefull and to go over 0. Isnt it unhealthy and very selfdestroying, when these guys want 10thous. Euros for a play?...

From what I heard Wittekind filled a place in CZ rather nicely at about 10% of that price....

I think Rush filled a place and not Wittekind, IMO.

[DJAmok]

Well on the pictures I saw Wittekind playing in front of a big crowd, so I guess he must have a good market value.

[davethedrummer]

with a cd album manafacturing price of about 60p and a return to label of £4.20 how the hell does it outlet to punters at £14.99.

If that's true then why can't you buy CDs direct from the label online for, say, £6?
Little bit extra to cover postage.

If I wanted a CD, and I could save half my money by buying it online, I would.

Some labels do that. I'm not sure about techno, but, Dischord used to put on the visibile parts of their tapes/CDs exactly how much it would cost to buy if you ordered through them directly. Thus, if you felt like you were getting raped by a store, you knew where you could find it and how much it would cost. Don't all the Truelove sponsored labels still have the webpage on them?

it is true that crass and dischord and other punk band used to say
"pay no more than..."
on their sleeves
but it would prevent the records from getting into the chain store in the first place.
we discussed doing it once and it just turned out to be a bad idea...
but that was then
now websites are here to stay you can undercut people and get music to people at a reasonable price.
you just need to know where to go.

[BloodStar]

Well on the pictures I saw Wittekind playing in front of a big crowd, so I guess he must have a good market value.

no no,. probably market here is not same as yours,,. it's not just name of DJ.... and i still sthink Wittekind will not fill so big place if he will be headliner,here.. that's for sure.. if there wouldnt be Rush,,there would just around 700-1thous and you would see just empty room,.,believe me ;)

[DJAmok]

I don't know the cz market as you do. Of course a "new" artist will not fill a place to the same degree, but you almost surely get a better costomer-per-fee ratio. (for example if DJ X costs 10000 euro and brings you 5000 people and DJ Y costs 2000 Euro and brings you 2000 people)

Depending on the location, you can make a load of money with 1000 People. And if the Party is good, there will be more people next time, plus you got the chance to have brought this DJ first and get a good deal with his agency.

At least that's how I see it working in many countrys.

[holotropik]

Great thread....you chaps cover some great topics, that are reflected globally - even here in OZ.

Here we have a small community. Absolutely no access to labels that press to vinyl locally. There are a couple of producers who get put to vinyl.

I know of one Techno DJ who uses final scratch regularly at events.

We have nuthin'

But, we still do it. I know of two other dudes (HPS & Komplex) who, like myself are developing our sound and Live playing technique the best we can. We have to fund everything we do from our own pockets. We still do it.

Locally, our most inspiration comes from the likes of DJ Bold who you probably know over there. He is our most developed techno-file.

sorry if this is just a string of rambling shite....but its more me thinkin as I type and offering another perspective.

I really dont know what to do to foster the music scene onto greener pasture?? I do know that the most money I make comes from playing Live - not from track sales or royalties etc.